The Latest: Leaders call for pandemic preparedness treaty

LONDON — More than 20 heads of government and global agencies are calling for an international treaty for pandemic preparedness that they say will protect future generations — but there are few details to explain how such an agreement might actually cause countries to act more cooperatively.

In a commentary published on Tuesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda called for “a renewed collective commitment” to reinforce the world’s pandemic preparedness and response systems, that would be rooted in the U.N. health agency’s constitution.

“We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic,” they wrote. Although they called for “solidarity” and greater “societal commitment,” there was no indication any country would soon change its own approach to responding to the pandemic.

Last week, Tedros pleaded with rich countries to immediately donate 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so immunization campaigns could start in all countries within the first 100 days of the year. Not a single country has yet publicly offered to share its vaccines immediately. Of the more than 459 million vaccine doses administered globally, most have been in just 10 countries — and 28% in just one.

THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Biden, CDC director warn of virus resurgence if people ease up on restrictions now

— More than a dozen US states to open up vaccinations to all adults

— Their work is vital to a cleaner world, but trash scavengers have been left to plead for vaccine

— Spanish resorts languish while Madrid hosts Europe’s parties

— One Good Thing: Migrant workers, who bore the brunt of Singapore's outbreak, get a skyline view with residents' help

— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LONDON -- Leading British Black personalities, including actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton, have signed an open letter penned by comedian and author Lenny Henry to urge wider take-up of coronavirus vaccines among the Black community.

In the letter, Henry acknowledged the “legitimate worries and concerns” that some Black people may hold about the vaccines, which are evident in figures showing far lower take-up of the vaccines than among white Britons.

Henry said the signatories to the letter are “asking you to trust the facts” about the vaccines, not least from Black doctors and scientists, “not just in the U.K. but across the world including the Caribbean and Africa.”

Figures from Britain’s Office for National Statistics estimate that the vaccination rate so far among Black Africans is 58.8% — the lowest among all ethnic minority groups. The estimated rate for people identifying as white British is 91.3%.

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ROME — Italian Premier Mario Draghi has received his first COVID-19 shot, getting the AstraZeneca vaccine at one of Rome’s main inoculation hubs.

Draghi and his wife, Maria Serenella Cappello, arrived Tuesday at the Termini station vaccination center that is being run by the Italian Red Cross. Video released by the premier’s office showed the couple entering the tents and then chatting in socially distanced seats as they presumably wwaited the required 15 minutes after receiving the shot.

Draghi, 73, had said last week that he intended to get the AstraZeneca vaccine after Italy joined other European countries in issuing a temporary ban on the shots pending further review by the European Medicines Agency.

Italy is only managing to vaccinate around 200,000-250,000 people a day, half of what officials say is necessary to reach the goal of inoculating 80% of residents by September.

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BERLIN — New rules requiring all people flying to Germany to show a negative coronavirus test result before they board their plane have come into effect.

The rules, which were announced last week, took effect early Tuesday and are set to run until May 12. Travelers must show their airline a negative result in German, English or French from a test conducted no more than 48 hours before their planned arrival in Germany to board flights.

Airline crews and children under 5 are exempted. If people test positive, they have to remain where they are under local quarantine rules and at their own expense.

It’s up to airlines to check whether passengers have tested negative, though German federal police may conduct checks on arrival. The rules do not apply to other means of transport.

The German government characterizes the change as a precautionary move to prevent the virus from spreading. It follows a much-criticized surge in bookings to the Spanish island of Mallorca after a German travel warning was lifted.

The government considered the possibility of temporarily preventing travel to popular foreign vacation destinations but then said new rules aren’t planned for now.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka said on Tuesday that it will receive a donation of 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China this week.

Authorities say the vaccine will first be given to Chinese citizens in Sri Lanka. There are several thousand Chinese working at various projects in the country.

Government spokesman Ramesh Pathirana said the vaccine will be given to Sri Lankans once the country receives a clearance from the World Health Organization.

He said WHO has not yet recommended the universal use of Sinopharm.

Sri Lanka has so far received 1,264,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and has inoculated 903,467 people.

It has approved three vaccines — Oxford-AstraZeneca, Russia's Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm.

Sri Lanka has decided to buy 7 million doses of Sputnik V.

The country has recorded 92,302 coronavirus cases, including 566 fatalities.

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WARSAW, Poland -- Tougher new quarantine rules are taking effect on Tuesday for people traveling to Poland as the country struggles with a massive surge in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.

Travelers entering Poland from other parts of the European Union’s Schengen area are now required to quarantine for 10 days unless they can present a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous two days.

Those arriving outside the Schengen area must quarantine for 10 days and can be released from that only if they take a test on arrival and get a negative result.

The new rules are tougher than earlier ones that had been applied since Dec. 28.

The earlier restrictions applied to people arriving in the country using mass transportation but not those arriving in private cars or on foot.

The new regulations will apply to all arrivals.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan reported 100 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, its highest single-day toll since December amid a spike in infections.

Most of the deaths were reported in the eastern province of Punjab, where a partial lockdown has been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Both President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan have tested positive for the coronavirus days after receiving their first dose of the two-dose vaccine. Khan later acknowledged that he tested positive because he ignored social distancing rules.

He urged people to strictly adhere to social distancing rules to avoid the disease.

Pakistan is using the Sinopharm vaccine that was donated by Beijing last month to vaccinate health care workers and older people.

Pakistan is in the middle of a virus surge the government says is worst than last year's outbreak, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed.

Pakistan has reported 663,200 cases of infection, including 14,356 deaths from COVID-19, since the pandemic began.

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WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is slamming two of his most prominent coronavirus advisers. He says Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx are “two self-promoters trying to reinvent history.”

Fauci is the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden and in a statement released Monday evening, Trump calls him “the king of ’flip-flops.” He accuses Fauci of “moving the goalposts to make himself look as good as possible.”

Birx managed the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic, and Trump says she “is a proven liar with very little credibility left.”

Trump’s comments come in response to a documentary that aired on CNN on Sunday. In the film, Birx says the U.S. did not act aggressively enough to fight the spread of the coronavirus, saying that deaths “could have been mitigated or decreased substantially” after the initial wave.

Fauci told CNN it seemed like the Trump virus team was “fighting with each other rather than fighting the virus.”

In his statement, Trump says “Dr. Fauci would always talk negatively about (Birx) and, in fact, would ask not to be in the same room with her.”

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SANTA FE, N.M. — The Indian Health Service is shifting its vaccine distribution system to target individual hospitals and clinics with high demand for shots and tapering off supplies to vaccination hubs where most eligible patients have received doses.

The federal agency said Monday the shift is designed to improve efficiency after a drop-off in vaccine demand in some regions.

Native Americans have been disproportionately sickened and killed by the pandemic and are now at the forefront of federal vaccination efforts.

The Indian Health Service has administered more than 940,000 vaccine doses across the U.S. and plans to hit the million-dose mark before April.

Over a year after the nation’s first reported coronavirus case, more than 80,000 Navajo Nation members have been fully vaccinated on the sprawling reservation that overlaps portions of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.

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AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas has opened coronavirus vaccine eligibility to all adults, joining a rapid national expansion as state health officials continue monitoring whether spring break will change a downward trend in cases.

At least a half dozen states opened eligibility to anyone age 16 and older on Monday.

Texas officials say the state is receiving more than 1 million new doses this week, and shipments are expected to increase in April. Vaccination rates in Texas have lagged behind much of the nation. Although officials put some blame on data reporting delays, they acknowledge that some appointment slots are going unfilled.

Texas has administered more than 10 million vaccine doses.