Britain Reverses Course on ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Nightclubs

Britain’s Health Ministry announced Sunday that it would reverse its decision to require ‘vaccine passports’ for Britons entering nightclubs and bars.Health Minister Sajid Javid said Sunday that the idea, which faced pushback from conservative lawmakers, had been shelved but would be reconsidered if rates of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, increased substantially.Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the virus. The vaccine campaign will likely start later this month.US Surgeon General: New COVID Restrictions Are ‘Appropriate Response’   But 19 Republican state governors oppose vaccination mandates imperiling workers’ jobs Elsewhere, Bangladesh reopened schools after over 500 days of closure Sunday, as the government reported that 97% of teachers throughout the country have been fully vaccinated.Children were still required to wear masks in schools and the government warned against being lax on safety measures. For now, students in each class will attend school once a week. More than 50% of Japan’s population has received COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Japanese government. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a television interview Sunday that the inoculation rate is expected to reach 60% by the end of September.Myanmar is fighting a third COVID-19 wave at a time of increasing political tensions. According to World Health Organization data, more than 400,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Myanmar, with more than 16,000 dead.  Public health officials, however, say they believe the figures are widely undercounted. The Times of India reported that the northeastern state of Mizoram’s COVID-19 tally reached 70,000, after 1,089 new cases were recorded Sunday, including 245 children. The Johns Hopkins University has recorded 33.2 million COVID-19 cases in India and more than 442,000 deaths.  Health officials say they believe that India’s COVID-19 numbers are likely undercounted.  India is second only to the United States in COVID infections. The U.S. has a COVID-19 tally of 41 million infections and nearly 660,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that it has recorded 224.4 million global COVID-19 infections and 4.6 million global deaths.  The center also said 5.7 billion vaccines have been administered.
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