PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa reported its first case of coronavirus on Friday.

The U.S. territory’s performing governor and well being officers mentioned the islands’ first case of COVID-19 was of a resident who returned to America Samoa from Hawaii this week.

The contaminated traveler flew in on Monday, the primary day of newly resumed industrial flights from Honolulu to Pago Pago. The route had been suspended since March 2020.

Officers say the resident was absolutely vaccinated and had traveled to Hawaii and the U.S. mainland. They are saying the traveler examined unfavorable for COVID-19 earlier than boarding the flight again to American Samoa.

American Samoa requires all vacationers to be vaccinated and to quarantine.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— FDA advisory panel rejects widespread Pfizer booster photographs

— Biden faces limits of $1.9T COVID help as some states resist

— England simplifies COVID-19 guidelines for worldwide vacationers

— Trial begins over coronavirus outbreak at Austrian ski resort in 2020

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— See AP protection at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

BATON ROUGE, La. — A toddler is among the many newest to die from COVID-19 in Louisiana, state well being officers mentioned Friday.

Heath division figures confirmed the state dying toll from the sickness grew by 52. One of many victims was a toddler between the ages of 5 and 11.

It was the fifteenth dying of somebody youthful than 18 in Louisiana for the reason that pandemic started early final 12 months. And it is the sixth pediatric dying since a fourth surge started this summer time.

Coronavirus hospitalizations continued to drop. They fell to 1,367 in Friday’s figures, 64 fewer than yesterday. Hospitalizations are down from a peak of greater than 3,000 in August however nonetheless nicely above the pre-surge ranges of mid-summer.

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WASHINGTON — After overwhelmingly rejecting a plan to present Pfizer booster photographs in opposition to COVID-19 to most Individuals, an influential federal advisory panel has authorised the additional photographs for many who are 65 or older or run a excessive threat of extreme illness.

The dual votes Friday represented a blow to the Biden administration’s sweeping effort to shore up practically all Individuals’ safety amid the unfold of the extremely contagious delta variant. The choice was made by a committee of out of doors specialists who advise the Meals and Drug Administration.

The vote recommending the booster photographs for older Individuals and different high-risk teams helps salvage a part of the White Home’s marketing campaign however remains to be be an enormous step again from the sweeping plan proposed by administration a month in the past to supply booster photographs of each the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to almost all Individuals eight months after they get their second dose.

Throughout a number of hours of vigorous debate Friday, members of the panel questioned the worth of providing boosters to almost everybody.

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WASHINGTON — The White Home says President Joe Biden will host a digital summit subsequent week geared toward “calling the world to account” on defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.

The assembly, to happen on the margins of the United Nations Common Meeting, is supposed to encourage extra nations to do extra to vaccinate the world in opposition to COVID-19 and enhance coronavirus therapies.

Press secretary Jen Psaki says Biden “shall be asking individuals to decide to of a better stage of ambition” on international vaccinations and therapeutics, together with getting ready for the following pandemic.

The U.S. has dedicated to donating the extra COVID-19 vaccine doses than another nation to the remainder of the world, and Biden is predicted to ask different well-off nations to make bolder vaccine sharing commitments.

The White Home says world leaders, philanthropists, trade representatives and non-governmental organizations will take part.

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BEND, Oregon — Dozens of individuals in Oregon have contacted the state’s poison heart after self-medicating in opposition to COVID-19 with a drug used to deal with parasites, with 5 changing into hospitalized and two of them winding up in intensive care items, authorities mentioned Friday.

The drug they used was ivermectin, which has no confirmed use in opposition to the coronavirus and is as an alternative authorised to deal with some parasites in folks and a few animals.

“COVID-19 is a devastating illness and might be very scary, however the public doesn’t want to make use of — nor ought to it use — unproven and probably harmful medicine to struggle it,” mentioned Robert Hendrickson, medical director of the Oregon Poison Middle at Oregon Well being & Science College.

Between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14, the Oregon Poison Middle at OHSU managed a complete of 25 circumstances. 5 of these circumstances concerned hospitalization, and two folks have been so severely sick that they needed to be admitted to an intensive care unit.

Throughout the nation, calls to poison management facilities relating to ivermectin overdoses or exposures has elevated five-fold from the pre-pandemic stage, in line with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

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WASHINGTON — An influential federal advisory panel has overwhelmingly rejected a plan to supply Pfizer booster photographs in opposition to COVID-19 to most Individuals, dealing a heavy blow to the Biden administration’s effort to shore up folks’s safety amid the extremely contagious delta variant.

The vote by the committee of out of doors specialists assembled by the Meals and Drug Administration was 16-2, with members expressing frustration that Pfizer had supplied little information on the security of additional doses. Many additionally raised doubts in regards to the worth of mass boosters, fairly than ones focused to particular teams.

In a rare transfer, each FDA leaders and the panel indicated they have been prone to take a second vote Friday afternoon on recommending the booster photographs for older Individuals and different high-risk teams.

That will assist salvage a part of the Biden administration’s marketing campaign however would nonetheless be an enormous step again from the sweeping plan proposed by the White Home a month in the past to supply booster photographs of each the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to almost all Individuals eight months after they get their second dose.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A federal choose has once more blocked Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee from permitting dad and mom to choose out of faculty masks necessities geared toward limiting coronavirus infections.

U.S. District Decide Sheryl Lipman issued a preliminary injunction on Friday for faculties in Shelby County, Tennessee’s largest county. Dad and mom in two Memphis suburbs are suing on behalf of their youngsters with well being issues.

They argue the Republican governor’s govt order has endangered these college students and harmed their potential to attend lessons in individual by permitting others to choose out of a masks mandate and unfold infections.

“It’s that unmasked presence that creates the hazard to those Plaintiffs,” the choose wrote Friday.

Lipman had already issued a brief restraining order on Sept. 3 stopping faculties from permitting dad and mom to opt-out. It was set to run out Friday. The preliminary injunction continues blocking the governor’s order because the federal lawsuit proceeds.

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ISLAMABAD — The British authorities took Pakistan off from its journey ban listing beginning subsequent Wednesday, a transfer which was welcomed by Pakistani authorities.

The announcement was made by the highest British diplomat to Pakistan, Christian Turner and the British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Twitter. Pakistan was added to the crimson listing in April, and other people touring from Pakistan to Britain needed to quarantine and pay for a 10-day keep in a government-approved resort.

On Friday, Turner in a tweet mentioned he was happy to substantiate Pakistan is off the crimson listing, saying “I understand how tough the final 5 months have been for thus many who depend on shut hyperlinks” between the 2 nations.

Pakistan’s planning minister Asad Umar took to Twitter to welcome the British authorities’s resolution. The nation is at the moment going through a fourth wave of coronavirus, which has began subsiding.

Pakistan has reported 1.2 million confirmed circumstances and 27,072 confirmed deaths for the reason that begin of the pandemic.

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YUMA, Ariz. — An Arizona couple was sentenced after coughing on Walmart workers who requested them to put on masks and for combating with police.

A choose sentenced 39-year-old Frank Robert Montoya to 18 months in state jail minus 113 days served. Victoria Parra-Carranza, 25, acquired 30 days within the county jail and a three-year probation time period.

Each have been convicted in April of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and different crimes for the incident in 2020, the Yuma Solar reported.

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WASHINGTON — The federal authorities is spending $2.1 billion to enhance an infection management procedures in well being care settings, geared toward stopping the transmission of ailments inside hospitals, dialysis facilities and different amenities.

The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is allocating the funding from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid invoice that was signed into legislation by President Joe Biden this 12 months.

Of the brand new funding, $500 million will create and practice “strike groups” to assist amenities with identified or suspected COVID-19 outbreaks.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the funding “will dramatically enhance the security and high quality of the well being care delivered in the USA in the course of the pandemic and sooner or later.”

Almost $900 million shall be spent over the approaching years to assist analysis and coaching on new methods to regulate the unfold of infections.

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NEW DELHI — India officers say a file 21 million vaccine doses got throughout the nation in a particular drive on Friday, a birthday present to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who turned 71.

India has vaccinated 770 million folks, 20% absolutely vaccinated and 62% with single doses, in line with the Well being Ministry.

The ministry suggested folks to take precautions to keep away from one other lethal surge in the course of the upcoming October-November pageant season. India was hit by a devastating surge of infections from April to June this 12 months, overwhelming hospital beds and oxygen provide in hospitals.

In the meantime, youth members of important opposition Congress get together clashed with police throughout a road protest Friday demanding jobs amid large unemployment triggered by the pandemic.

On Friday, India reported 34,403 new circumstances and 320 confirmed deaths.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s largest hospital system says 125 staff are not employed with the well being community after they did not adjust to its mandate for all workers to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.

The Indianapolis Enterprise Journal newspaper reported Indiana College Well being says the staff left the hospital system after a two-week unpaid suspension interval that ended Sept. 14.

The staff symbolize lower than 1% of IU Well being’s work drive of about 36,000. The well being system operates 15 hospitals and dozens of outpatient clinics across the state. IU Well being mentioned Sept. 2 it estimated 97% of its workers have been vaccinated.

IU Well being introduced in June it will require all docs, nurses and different workers be absolutely vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19 by Sept. 1.

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WASHINGTON — Authorities advisers are debating whether or not to suggest further doses of the Pfizer vaccine, a key step towards the Biden administration’s plan to dispense COVID-19 booster photographs to most Individuals.

Scientists inside and outdoors the U.S. authorities have been divided in current days over the necessity for boosters and who ought to get them. A panel of Meals and Drug Administration advisers will vote Friday on the security and effectiveness of boosters.

This week, two high FDA vaccine reviewers joined a bunch of worldwide scientists in publishing an editorial rejecting the necessity for boosters in wholesome folks. The scientists mentioned persevering with research present the photographs are working nicely regardless of the delta variant.

A Pfizer research of 44,000 folks confirmed effectiveness in opposition to symptomatic COVID-19 was 96% two months after the second dose and 84% after about six months.

If the FDA approves the additional doses, a separate committee convened by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention will debate on Wednesday who ought to get boosters and when. The CDC has mentioned it’s contemplating boosters for older folks, nursing house residents and front-line well being care staff, fairly than all adults

The World Well being Group has strongly objected to wealthy nations giving a 3rd spherical of photographs when poor nations haven’t got sufficient vaccine for his or her first.

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LONDON — The British authorities says it plans to simplify guidelines for worldwide journey in the course of the coronavirus pandemic and can make an announcement Friday.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says on Twitter he’ll “set out measures to simplify worldwide journey later at the moment with the intention to cut back prices, make the most of increased ranges of vaccination, and maintain us all secure.”

The federal government is underneath stress to scrap its “site visitors mild” system that ranks nations as crimson, yellow or inexperienced — excessive, medium or low threat from the coronavirus.

Airways and journey companies say Britain’s necessities are preserving folks away and hampering restoration from the pandemic.

At current, folks coming from “crimson listing” nations should spend 10 days in a government-approved quarantine resort. Unvaccinated vacationers from yellow listing nations should self-isolate for 10 days at house, whereas absolutely vaccinated vacationers have to take coronavirus exams earlier than and after arriving in Britain.

It is doubtless the federal government will ease the foundations that require vacationers to take a extremely delicate and expensive PCR check two days after arrival. They may use a less expensive however much less delicate check as an alternative.

Any modifications will apply solely to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire set their very own insurance policies.

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia is vaccinating youngsters ages 6 to 11 so college students can safely return to varsities which have been closed for months as a result of coronavirus.

Prime Minister Hun Sen inaugurated the marketing campaign Friday, together with his grandchildren and younger members of the family of different senior officers proven being given their photographs.

Cambodia already has been vaccinating older youngsters. Hun Sen says he ordered well being officers to review if youngsters ages 3 to five might be vaccinated.

Almost 72% of Cambodia’s virtually 17 million folks have acquired at the least one COVID-19 shot since vaccinations started in February. China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines account for many inoculations.

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GENEVA — The World Well being Group and United Nations on Friday declined to point what number of of their workforces have been vaccinated.

“We can’t have that as a result of it is confidential,” mentioned Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman.

U.N. Geneva spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci mentioned: “We do not disclose this type of info. It is one thing that’s mentioned to the medical service. So, no, sadly, we can’t be capable to provide you with these numbers.”

Vellucci says she’ll look into whether or not percentages of workers that had been vaccinated could possibly be supplied.

In November, WHO indicated 65 of its staffers had examined constructive for COVID-19 on the time, confirming info in an inner e-mail obtained by The Related Press. The U.N. workplace in Geneva has typically indicated what number of of its workers examined constructive.

Governments listing how many individuals are vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus, and the WHO compiles the data and studies on it. Some nations and firms require vaccines for his or her staff to go to their jobs.