US President Joe Biden announced a plan to work with churches, colleges, businesses and celebrities to boost coronavirus inoculations. New York City will open vaccination clinics in public schools, and New Jersey is shutting its mega-sites as shot demand wanes.

Israel has found a probable link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and cases of heart inflammation in young men. The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations and is on track to reach its target of inoculating 70% of adults in July, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that Britain remains on course to lift restrictions this month, but he urged caution. Germany is exploring ways to prevent a potential new wave after the summer, and it will probably need to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, officials said.

Key developments

• Global Tracker: Cases top 171.3 million; deaths pass 3.68 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 1.94 billion doses given
• Weary seafarers come ashore in the US for J&J shots
• Hong Kong protests fall silent under never-ending Covid rules
• Summer camps reopen to a stampede of stressed-out US parents
• Lab leak theory’s revival risks upending any US-China detente

New Jersey to close vaccine megasites as demand wanes

New Jersey will close all six of its vaccine megasites by July 23 as demand wanes and the state nears its goal of immunising 70% of residents. 

“We’re localising and this is yet another step in that direction,” Governor Phil Murphy said at a streaming virus update. Health officials now will encourage vaccine seekers to make arrangements at any of almost 1,800 sites, including pharmacies, retailers and community medical centres.

The mega-sites at their height were processing 400 or more recipients per hour on an appointments-only basis, for almost one million people in all. Each now takes walk-ins. New Jersey, with 9.2 million residents, intends to fully vaccinate 4.7 million people by June 30. The state is at 90% of that goal.

Child care offered as US shot incentive

Free child care will be available during vaccine appointments as part of new incentives to reach President Joe Biden’s target of getting 70% of US adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4, according to a statement from the White House.

Other new initiatives include offering shots at black-owned barber shops and beauty salons as well as private-sector incentives such as free beer from Anheuser-Busch. Biden is calling for a national month of action to get more people vaccinated.

Portugal eases rules on remote work

Portugal will no longer require people to work remotely as it continues to ease confinement measures after the number of new Covid-19 cases eased and the vaccination campaign advances.

While working from home will no longer be mandatory from June 14, it will still be recommended, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at a press conference in Lisbon on Wednesday. Restrictions on opening hours for shops will be lifted and restaurants can remain open until 1am. Bars and nightclubs will remain closed, he said.

Portugal reported 724 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, a fraction of the daily record of more than 16,000 cases reported at the end of January, when the country faced one of the world’s worst outbreaks. The country aims to administer at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 70% of its adult population by August 8.

New York City plans in-school vaccinations

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would launch in-school vaccination sites in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s largest teachers union, starting on Friday. The programme will begin with four schools in the Bronx and expand to all five boroughs in the next few weeks.

New York is outpacing the nation in vaccinating young people, De Blasio said at a briefing on Wednesday. Nearly 120,000 kids in New York City aged 12-17 have been vaccinated, or about 23% of the population, which surpasses the national average of 22%, he said.

Laggard Burkina Faso begins vaccine drive

Burkina Faso, one of the last countries in the world to start administering Covid-19 vaccines, launched its inoculation campaign on Tuesday.

Health Minister Charlemagne Ouedraogo got the West African nation’s first jab in the capital, Ouagadougou, after a first shipment of 115,000 AstraZeneca shots arrived on Sunday through the Covax facility, backed by the World Health Organization.

UK’s Johnson says easing is on course

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated his government remains on course to lift lockdown restrictions this month, a day after the UK recorded no new Covid-19 deaths for the first time.

“I can see nothing in the data at the moment that means we cannot go ahead,” the British prime minister said in a pooled interview on Wednesday. “But we’ve got to be so cautious,” he warned, given the recent rise in infections.

Tuesday’s milestone has bolstered calls from business and members of Johnson’s Conservative Party for the government to proceed with the fourth and final stage of unlocking the economy on June 21.

Singapore allows Sinovac

Singapore will allow the use of Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine, after the World Health Organization approved the drug as part of its emergency use listing.

Serbia invites Bosnians for vaccines

Serbia is offering free vaccines to visitors from neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina, President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters in Belgrade on Wednesday.

“We’ve got as many vaccines as you need,” Vucic said after meeting officials from the neighbouring country. “We were hoping for a better response from our citizens.”

Serbia pulled off one of the fastest inoculation campaigns in Europe, though the pace has slowed recently. The Balkan country has inoculated almost half of its population of seven million, including 2.1 million with both doses. The government has already donated more than 100,000 vaccines to neighbouring countries.

EU passes 250 million vaccinations

The European Union passed 250 million vaccinations on Wednesday. The bloc is on track to reach its target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population in July, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet. More than 80 million people living in the EU have been fully vaccinated, she added.

Germany likely to need Sputnik

Germany will probably need to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to help complete its inoculation drive, according to a regional minister.

Officials are conducting “intensive talks” on buying the shot, but the approval process is being delayed as some documents requested from Russia haven’t been provided, Harry Glawe, minister of economy, labour and health in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, said at a Russian-German business forum.

Earlier, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Germany has begun preparations to block a potential “fourth wave” from materialising after the summer. Spahn said he had initiated discussions with experts from the RKI public-health institute on how the nation can be better prepared than in the previous wave.

Malaysia reports record deaths

Malaysia reported a record 126 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday as the Southeast Asian nation entered the second day of a two-week hard lockdown. The tally pushed Malaysia’s total death toll to 2,993, more than half of which occurred last month.

HSBC offers French staff remote options

HSBC Holdings is giving some of its French staff two options to work from home part-time. Employees can decide between occasional remote working, with as many as 30 days per year away from the office, and frequent remote work, with either eight or 12 days per month at home, according to a spokeswoman.

HSBC is also among major banks and brokers operating in Hong Kong that are doling out cash credits, free stocks and days off to get more people vaccinated after authorities in the financial hub leaned on companies to revive a faltering inoculation drive.

Hong Kong’s expert advisory panel on Covid vaccinations, meanwhile, has agreed to expand eligibility to children as young as 12, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ryanair CEO calls Delta a ‘scariant’

The delta variant, first identified in India, is a “scariant being used to urge caution,” Ryanair Holdings CEO Michael O’Leary saidin an interview with Sky News, calling on the UK government to lift travel restrictions to Europe. DM

— With assistance by David Scanlan, Denise Wee, Cathy Chan, Gearoid Reidy, Mai Ngoc Chau, Grace Huang, Takashi Nakamichi, Iain Rogers, Shelly Banjo, and Elise Young.