<\/p>\n
A cruise\u00a0ship line is now\u00a0free\u00a0to require proof of\u00a0coronavirus\u00a0vaccination from passengers in Florida.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0U.S. federal judge granted Norwegian Cruise Line a preliminary injunction Sunday\u00a0that enables\u00a0the line to ask\u00a0passengers\u00a0for their vaccine status.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome today\u2019s ruling that allows us to sail with 100% fully vaccinated guests and crew which we believe is the safest and most prudent way to resume cruise operations amid this global pandemic,\u201d Frank Del Rio,\u00a0president\u00a0and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The injunction overrules\u00a0an order\u00a0Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this year\u00a0that\u00a0fined businesses\u00a0asking\u00a0for vaccination proof.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate response from the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Another U.S. governor said that the law he signed banning mask mandates in his state was a mistake. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said Sunday on\u00a0CBS\u2019s\u00a0\u201cFace\u00a0The\u00a0Nation\u201d\u00a0that signing the mask ban was an \u201cerror.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I signed that law, our cases were low, we were hoping that the whole thing was gone, in terms of the virus, but it roared back with the\u00a0delta variant,\u201d Hutchinson said.<\/p>\n
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Arkansas has one of the nation\u2019s lowest vaccination rates and has recently reported more than 2,000\u00a0daily new infections.<\/p>\n
One-third of Israel\u2019s seniors \u2014 about 420,000 of those age 60 and older \u2014 have received a coronavirus booster shot, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday, adding that the figure could reach 500,000 by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
Bennett announced the progress of the vaccine campaign, which began\u00a010 days\u00a0ago and uses the Pfizer vaccine, at a Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n
Israel became a vaccination leader early in the pandemic, with about 5.4 million of its\u00a0population of 9.3 million\u00a0people fully vaccinated. Still, with hospitalizations on the rise,\u00a0almost exclusively\u00a0with the delta variant, the government offered the third shot and reinstated a mask mandate indoors.<\/p>\n
With the world a year and a half into the pandemic, the United States,\u00a0India\u00a0and Brazil have suffered the most cases of COVID-19 and deaths from the virus by far, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has reported more than 35.7 million cases and more than 616,000 deaths. India has reported\u00a0nearly 32\u00a0million cases and\u00a0nearly 428,000\u00a0deaths. Brazil has reported 20.1 million cases and more than 563,000 deaths.<\/p>\n
France,\u00a0Russia\u00a0and the United Kingdom fill the next three spots with more than 6 million cases each and 112,000 to 162,000 deaths.<\/p>\n
India, which faced a devastating second wave of the virus earlier this year, said Sunday that it had recorded more than 39,000 new COVID-19 cases in the\u00a0previous\u00a024-hour period. Brazil reported more than 43,000 new cases on Sunday. The U.S. reported just more than 44,000 new cases, all figures according to Johns Hopkins.<\/p>\n
Neither the U.S. nor any European country has yet authorized booster shots of the vaccine. Last week, the World Health Organization called for a moratorium on discussions of booster shots until more of the global population is vaccinated.<\/p>\n
In India, just more than 8% of its population has been fully vaccinated. In Brazil, that figure stands at 21%, and the U.S. sits at\u00a0almost 51%, all according to\u00a0the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.<\/p>\n
Coronavirus cases are rising in the U.S., which confirmed an average of 100,000 new infections every day in the last week. Infections have been rising, due to the more contagious delta variant.<\/p>\n
Frances Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d Sunday that the country was failing in its pandemic response.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should not really have ever got to the place we are,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n
202.7 million\u00a0global COVID cases\u00a0and 4.2 million deaths\u00a0were reported\u00a0Monday, according to\u00a0the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.<\/p>\n
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Source: Voice of America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"