Both Pope Francis and his predecessor, former pope Benedict XVI, have received the coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican said on Thursday.
“I can confirm that as part of the vaccination program of the Vatican City State, as of today, the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and to the Pope Emeritus,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office in response to journalists’ questions.
Pope Francis had announced during an interview with Italian television station Tg5 on Sunday that he planned to receive the vaccine this week.
The Pope referred to the vaccination as “an ethical action, because you are gambling with your health, you are gambling with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.”
Private Secretary to Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, Bishop Georg Gaenswein, had also confirmed that the Pope emeritus would be vaccinated.
Chinese regulators have approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm, officials announced Thursday.
Sinopharm said yesterday its coronavirus vaccine is 79.34% effective, citing interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials.
Though few details were provided, the company said the vaccine met the standards of the World Health Organization and China’s own regulator, the National Medical Products Administration.
Coronavirus: Israel to ease second lockdown after cases decline
Israel’s government has agreed to ease a month-long second nationwide lockdown, after a significant decline in the number of new coronavirus cases.
From Sunday, people will be permitted to go more than 1km (0.6 miles) from their homes for non-essential purposes; nurseries will reopen; and restaurants will be able to serve takeaway food.
Beaches, nature reserves and national parks will also reopen for visitors.
The prime minister declared the lockdown had been a “major success”.
Israel has reported 300,000 Covid-19 infections and 2,128 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
The government was praised in the spring for taking early action that contained the spread of the virus and resulted in a very low death rate compared with other countries.
But it came in for widespread criticism for losing control after the first lockdown was eased in May.
The second lockdown began on 18 September, after Israel recorded infection and mortality rates that were among the highest in the world relative to population size.
image captionThe daily number of new Covid-19 infections has fallen below 2,000
The test positivity rate of 4.5% is also the lowest recorded since mid-July, while the reproduction number, or R value, currently stands at 0.62 – below the threshold of 0.8.
Despite the statistics, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein warned on Thursday night that there was “still a long road ahead” to get the virus under control.
He noted that the number of new infections might begin to rise as restrictions were eased, and that the government might be forced to reinstate them if there was a spike.
image captionElectronic candles were placed in a Jerusalem square on Monday in memory of the more than 2,000 people who have died from Covid-19 in Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier told his cabinet that the exit from the lockdown needed to be “gradual, responsible, careful and controlled” to avoid having to impose an additional lockdown in two or three weeks.
“However, there is no doubt that as of now there is a success here which they are already beginning to talk about and look at in many countries, mainly in Europe, where the morbidity in several countries has already passed us. They are now deliberating on a question that we deliberated on and already decided – yes to a lockdown, yes to lowering the numbers quickly,” he added.
Israeli media reported that ministers would discuss on Friday whether to also lift the tighter restrictions in place in “red” cities and towns with the highest morbidity
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