The Latest: Italy to pick up pace of vaccines for elderly BERGAMO, Italy — Promises to vaccinate all Italians over 80 by the end of March have fallen woefully short, amid well-documented interruptions of vaccine supplies and organizational shortfalls.... AP NEWS

TOKYO — Spectators from abroad will be barred from the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Covid-19 cases are rising again in much of the world More transmissible variants, rather than changes in behaviour, are largely to blame The Economist

LIKE A STORY-BOOK villain, the covid-19 pandemic has a habit of fighting back from the brink of defeat. Last summer politicians were quick to assume that the coronavirus had been squashed, only for a second wave to engulf much of Europe and North America in the autumn.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00728-2

As COVID-19 vaccination rates pick up around the world, people have reasonably begun to ask: how much longer will this pandemic last? It’s an issue surrounded with uncertainties. But the once-popular idea that enough people will eventually gain immunity to SARS-CoV-2 to block most transmission — a ‘herd-immunity threshold’ — is starting to look unlikely.

Surging COVID-19 cases in Europe, Brazil signal warning for US Substantial surges in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Europe and Brazil offer a worrying preview of what the United States faces in the coming weeks and months as the plummeting number of cases here begins to level off. Reid Wilson TheHill

Substantial surges in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Europe and Brazil offer a worrying preview of what the United States faces in the coming weeks and months as the plummeting number of cases here begins to level off.

Americans on the right half of the political spectrum have tended to underplay the risk of Covid-19. They have been less willing to wear masks or avoid indoor gatherings and have been more hesitant to get vaccinated.

High rate of COVID-19 antibodies found in children, study shows A study out of Northern Virginia shows children had a surprisingly high rate of COVID-19 antibodies. Lindsay Watts FOX 5 DC

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - A study out of Northern Virginia shows children had a surprisingly high rate of COVID-19 antibodies.

Inova Health System partnered with Virginia Department of Health and George Mason University to look at the rate of COVID-19 in children. It was done in the Fall.

CDC changes school guidance, allowing desks to be closer NEW YORK (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its social distancing guidelines for schools Friday, saying students can now sit 3 feet apart in classrooms. The... AP NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its social distancing guidelines for schools Friday, saying students can now sit 3 feet apart in classrooms.

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus Britain said on Thursday that there were lumps and bumps in the global vaccine supply chain that were causing slower than expected deliveries and scolded the European Union for threatening to slap a ban on vaccine exports. Reuters Staff U.S.

(Reuters) - Nearly a dozen countries resumed use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shots on Friday as EU and British regulators said its benefits outweighed any risks. Reports of rare instances of blood clotting had temporarily halted inoculations.