DENVER — Colorado plans to ease public health restrictions for restaurants and gyms in the much of the state starting next week.
Gov. Jared Polis announced the change on social media late Wednesday, citing sustained improvement in the state’s COVID-19 data, including intensive care units operating below capacity. He says he is asking the state health department to move counties with level red restrictions, including Denver and the rest of the populated Front Range region, to level orange starting on Monday.
The announcement came a day after Colorado said it had confirmed the first case of a new and apparently more contagious variant of the coronavirus in the U.S.
____
THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Warp Speed effort to vaccinate millions in US off to slow start
— Britain uses ads to urge residents to ‘see in New Year safely at home’
— 2020 is finally ending, but New Year’s Eve revelries around the world will be muted by the coronavirus
— A homegrown coronavirus vaccine has won the first approval for general use in China; Sinopharm says it's nearly 80% effective
___
Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
___
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
NEW YORK — While there won’t be crowds of cheering spectators in New York City’s Times Square, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed “it’s going to be a joyous night, if ever there was one.”
“Goodbye, 2020. Here comes something better: 2021,” the Democrat added, reflecting on a year when the U.S.’ most populous city became an epicenter of the pandemic in spring and has tallied over 25,000 deaths from the virus to date.
Crediting New Yorkers with showing strength and resilience to the world through this year’s trials, he pledged that next year, “we’re going to show people what it looks like to recover.”
“I cannot wait to get started,” de Blasio said. “We are turning the page and going someplace better.”
___
TEL AVIV, Israel — Business owners in Israel were hopeful the New Year might bring back a sense of normalcy and reverse their financial fortunes.
Israel will be spending New Year’s Eve under the country’s third national lockdown since the pandemic began, with restaurants closed except for delivery and bars, clubs and events spaces shut indefinitely. The virus restrictions have battered the country’s economy and sent unemployment soaring, hurting the service industry especially hard.
“2020 was a disaster,” said Morris Melvyn, who owns an Indian restaurant in Tel Aviv. “I hope 2021 will give us a better year, and we’ll start enjoying our lives again.”
Billie Heyman, a Tel Aviv flower shop owner, said 2020 taught her to be “more friendly and gentler with each other,” she said. “Because, when we don’t have this, we have nothing.”
Any New Year’s Eve celebrations are expected to be low-key. While some underground parties are expected to be held, police plan to enforce the lockdown rules.
___
CAIRO — The Egyptian government will shut down schools until Feb. 20 to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has so far claimed more than 7,500 lives.
Classes should be conducted remotely starting Saturday and until the end of the first semester in mid-January, read a statement posted on the official Facebook page of Egypt’s cabinet. Mid-year exams will be postponed until after the mid-year recess, which should last from Jan. 16 to Feb. 20, added the statement.
Egypt has recorded more than 136,000 confirmed cases.
However, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Khaffar said this week the actual number of cases was much higher. He added Egyptians should brace for a higher infectious rate next month.
___
LONDON — On New Year’s Eve, the British government is running ads imploring people not to celebrate with anyone outside their household. The campaign is urging Britons to “see in the New Year safely at home.”
No parties, no hugging strangers, no mass choruses of “Auld Lang Syne.” Stephen Powis, medical director of the National Health Service in England, says “COVID loves a crowd.”
Most of the country’s population is under lockdown measures to slow the spread of a new, easily transmissible coronavirus strain. Social gatherings involving multiple households are barred. Police will be patrolling to deter groups planning to celebrate or to mark Britain’s final economic split from the European Union.
London’s annual New Years’ Eve fireworks display, which usually draws thousands of people to the banks of the River Thames, has been canceled. One tradition will continue: The huge Big Ben bell of Parliament will sound 12 bongs at midnight.
___
BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Department of Health has reported two suspected severe allergic reactions to the Moderna vaccine.
The Bismarck Tribune reported the two people had no history of anaphylactic reactions. Neither person was hospitalized and both have recovered. The allergic reactions occurred during a 15-minute post-vaccine observation period recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State health officials say anaphylactic reactions after being vaccinated are rare. For other vaccines, they occur at a rate of one per 1 million doses.
The state is vaccinating health care workers and long-term care residents. More than 13,000 people have received the first dose of the vaccine.
___
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal is closing out the year with a record of 7,627 daily coronavirus cases.
The General Directorate for Health says that beat the previous record of 7,497 on Nov. 4.
The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital continued to drop, with 56 fewer, and the number of patients in ICUs fell to the lowest level in more than a month.
Portugal has officially reported more than 406,000 cases and 6,830 confirmed deaths.
___
BEIJING — China has approved its first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine for general use, marking the addition of another vaccine as the virus surges back around the world.
The two-dose vaccine from state-owned Sinopharm is the first approved in China. The go-ahead comes shortly after the country launched a program to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
It also comes one day after British regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s inexpensive and easy-to-handle vaccine.
Sinopharm says preliminary data from last-stage trials had shown the vaccine to be 79.3% effective. Experts say data such as the size of the control group and how many were vaccinated is missing.
Sinopharm is one of at least five Chinese developers in a global race to create vaccines for the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide. China has reported 4,782 deaths.
___
ROME — Italy’s interior minister has ordered 70,000 law enforcement officers to patrol New Year’s Eve to ensure that no illegal gatherings take place.
Minister Luciana Lamorgese says this year’s celebrations will be “more sober” than usual, due to restrictions in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The country with the highest death toll in Europe, topping 73,000, is under a modified lockdown, permitting just one outing a day for up to two people to visit friends or family in the same region.
Italians typically celebrate with friends or family at home or in restaurants. But restaurants are not permitted any indoor dining, and anyone staying a hotel for New Year’s Eve will be limited to room service. Fireworks will go on as scheduled at midnight over the Colosseum in Rome, but viewing will be from balconies only due to the nationwide 10 p.m. curfew.
___
CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea officials say the government has begun inoculating against the coronavirus with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on an experimental basis, starting with government officials.
Guinea has ordered only 55 doses of the Russian vaccine, says Dr. Sakoba Keita, the director-general of the National Health Security Agency. Guinea is one of the first African nations to vaccinate its officials.
Minister of Defense Mohamed Diané was the first to receive the vaccine. He was shown getting the inoculation on national TV followed by other Cabinet ministers receiving the shots.
Russia has businesses in the West African nation and Guinea is known for its bauxite mining. Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first world leaders to congratulate Guinea’s President Alpha Conde after he won a controversial third term in office after a violently contested election in October.
___
ISTANBUL — A four-day lockdown is set to begin in Turkey at 9 p.m. Thursday in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19 over the New Year’s holiday.
Istanbul’s governor says some 34,000 law enforcement personnel will be on duty to enforce the rules in Turkey’s most populous city. The interior ministry says more than 208,000 officers will be working across the country and have set up thousands of control points.
Tourists, who have been exempt from lockdowns, won't be allowed to go to symbolic squares and avenues.
Turkey has among the worst infection rates in the world, but official statistics show the seven-day average of daily infections has dropped to around 16,000 from above 30,000 since evening curfews and weekend lockdowns were instituted in early December.
The confirmed total death toll is 20,642, according to health ministry statistics.
___
BERLIN — Berlin’s chief of police says thousands of officers will be enforcing bans on protests and the use of fireworks in much of the German capital on New Year’s Eve.
Barbara Slowik told public broadcaster rbb-Inforadio on Thursday that her force was prepared for the possibility that people opposed to coronavirus restrictions or left-wing extremists might ignore a ban on demonstrations.
German courts this week rejected legal challenges against the ban on public assemblies in Berlin on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day that authorities had imposed due to the pandemic.
Instead of the annual open-air show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, which regularly draws hundreds of thousands of people, organizers are putting on a virtual event for people to watch at home.
Germany’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 32,552 confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 964 deaths.
___
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — For the second consecutive day, the United Arab Emirates has shattered its single-day record of new coronavirus infections, with 1,730 cases recorded ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations expected to draw tens of thousands of revelers to Dubai from around the world.
The record figures come after the UAE said it detected its first known cases of the new, fast-spreading variant of the virus in people arriving from abroad. With an economy that runs on aviation and hospitality, the UAE has remained open for business and tourism, including from the United Kingdom, where the new variant of the virus was found. The country is home to hundreds of thousands of British expats.
The commercial hub of Dubai will press ahead with New Year’s Eve celebrations, including the annual fireworks show around the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. Police will be out in force to ensure spectators are wearing masks and adhering to other measures.
The UAE has reported a total of 207,822 cases and 669 confirmed deaths.
___
PARIS — No more lockdown-busting lunches in Monte Carlo for day-trippers from France.
This weekend, restaurants in the principality of Monaco will no longer be allowed to serve visitors who have been popping across its border with France to savor culinary pleasures unavailable to the French, whose eateries have been closed since October to fight coronavirus infections.
Starting Saturday evening, only people who can demonstrate that they live, work or have a hotel room in the wealthy enclave will be allowed to eat in its restaurants. The government decree, signed Wednesday, follows grumbling about Monaco’s comparative laxness from authorities on the French side, where infections have been surging.
The mayor of the French city of Nice, along the Mediterranean coast from Monaco, appealed Monday for Monaco to tighten health restrictions or face stricter border controls.
___
TOKYO — Tokyo is seeing a record surge in coronavirus cases as the governor of the Japanese capital implored people to stay home.
“The coronavirus knows no year end or New Year’s holidays,” Gov. Yuriko Koike said.
She asked people to skip countdown ceremonies, and expressed concern people were out shopping in crowded stores.
“Please spend a quiet New Year’s with your family and stay home,” she said, switching to English for “stay home.”
She says the latest figures for Tokyo showed 1,300 new infections. The previous biggest daily number of cases for the capital was 949 people reported last Saturday.
Japan has had more than 230,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 3,000 confirmed deaths. Sixty-five of the deaths came on Wednesday, according to the health ministry.
Government-backed discounts for travel have been discontinued after infections started climbing.
___
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic headed for the New Year with a record surge in coronavirus infections.
The Health Ministry says the daily increase in new infections hit a record for the second straight day on Wednesday with 16,939 confirmed cases. It’s more than 500 from than the previous record set on Tuesday.
Police are boosting their presence across the country on New Year’s Eve to enforce a curfew starting at 9 p.m. and other restrictive measures imposed by the government that make it impossible to stage traditional New Year’s celebrations.
The country of 10.7 million has had 718,661 confirmed cases, including 11,580 deaths.
___
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, has surpassed 10,000 coronavirus deaths.
Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, called it a “terrible milestone” during a Wednesday briefing. Typically, about 170 people county wide die each day of various causes. The average number of deaths from COVID-19 alone is now 150 people a day.
“Most heartbreaking is that if we had done a better job of reducing transmission of the virus, many of these deaths would not have happened,” Ferrer said.
Officials on Wednesday reported 274 confirmed deaths and 10,392 new cases countywide. There are currently 7,415 people hospitalized, 20% of whom are in intensive care units.
The county’s daily test positivity rate is 20%, Ferrer said.
The county had administered more than 78,000 vaccine doses at acute care hospitals as of Tuesday, officials said. Nearly 1,400 paramedics and emergency medical technicians had also received their first doses, as well as more than 3,100 staffers at skilled nursing facilities.
___
LANSING, Michigan — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed a bill Wednesday that would kill emergency public health orders after 28 days unless the Legislature approved, another shot in the power struggle between the Democratic chief executive and Republican lawmakers over how to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill “would recklessly undermine” efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services to stop the spread of COVID-19, Whitmer said.
“Unfortunately, epidemics are not limited to 28 days. We should not so limit our ability to respond to them,” the governor said.
Republicans who control the House and Senate have repeatedly complained that Whitmer has ignored them in making COVID-19 policies and ordered too many one-size-fits-all remedies.
The state, meanwhile, reported more than 4,200 new cases Wednesday and 51 deaths. More than 12,000 Michigan residents have died since March.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.