The Latest: Russia’s vaccine available at Moscow facilities

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced start of large-scale vaccination of medics and teachers against COVID next week. Speaking during an online meeting dedicated to inauguration of new hospitals for coronavirus patients built by Russian Defense Ministry, Putin said Russia has enough capacity to start "large-scale" vaccination of teachers and doctors. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), takes part in a press briefing on the current Covid 19 situation in Germany in Berlin, Thursday, Dec.3, 2020. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

People eat outside in Covent Garden market, as non-essential shops are allowed to reopen after England's second lockdown ended in London, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Pfizer and BioNTech say they've won permission Wednesday for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in Britain, the world's first coronavirus shot that's backed by rigorous science -- and a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

A refrigerated truck drives out of the Pfizer Manufacturing plant in Puurs, Belgium, on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. British officials on Wednesday authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, greenlighting the world's first shot against the virus that's backed by rigorous science and taking a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A student checks the time as others wait for the start of the annual college entrance examination amid the coronavirus pandemic at an exam hall in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. South Korean officials are urging people to remain at home if possible and cancel gatherings as about half a million students prepare for a crucial national college exam. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)

Parents pray during a special service to wish for their children's success in the college entrance exams at the Jogyesa Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Hundreds of thousands of masked students in South Korea, including dozens of confirmed COVID-19 patients, took the highly competitive university entrance exam Thursday despite a viral resurgence that forced authorities to toughen social distancing rules. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Healthcare workers protest coronavirus pandemic working conditions at Sunrise hospital Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

In this Nov. 16, 2020, file photo, student nurse Ryan Eachus collects forms as cars line up for COVID-19 testing at a testing site set at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif. California reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, shattering the previous record of 18,350 cases just a week ago. Overall, California has reported more than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases and more than 19,300 deaths. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Admiral Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, elbow bumps Pharmacist Stacey LaBorde as the two meet at LaPharmacy in Elmwood, La., to discuss the coronavirus vaccine distribution on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)

Shrewsbury Town's Charlie Daniels, center, takes a throw-in as the fans watch during Championship soccer match at Montgomery Waters Meadow, Shrewsbury, England, Wednesday Dec. 2, 2020. A small number of fans are being welcomed back into soccer games as the second national lockdown is relaxed Wednesday, with COVID-19 numbers closely watched during the restriction change. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

In this Oct. 9, 2020 file photo, a health worker administers the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine currently on phase III clinical trials to Cem Gun, an Emergency Medicine Physician, at the Acibadem Hospital in Istanbul, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca, who had previously announced an agreement with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for 50 million doses of CoronaVac, said in a statement late Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, that the first shipment of the inactivated vaccine will arrive in Turkey after Dec. 11. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, file)

Santa Claus adjusts his protective face shield between visits from children and their families at Bass Pro Shops, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, in Miami. This is Santa Claus in the Coronavirus Age, where visits are done with layers of protection or moved online. Putting hundreds of kids a day onto your lap to talk directly into your face — that's not happening. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Zhong Hanneng holds a photo of her son, Peng Yi, and talks about his difficulties in getting tested for COVID-19, eventually dying from the disease, in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. “There were very, very few tests, basically none. ... if you couldn’t prove you were positive, you couldn’t get admitted to a hospital. ... The doctor said there was nothing that could be done.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The construction of a planned vaccination center is presented by the Berlin authorities during a media event at the 'Arena Berlin' event venue in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Berlin city authorites will set up six vaccine center until the end of the month. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

People wearing face masks watch maple trees illuminated for the fall foliage season at Otaguro Park in Tokyo on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A view of the restorated path in front of the ancient Parthenon temple at the Acropolis hill, in Athens, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Acropolis became fully accessible for people with disabilities after a restoration of the pathways and the inauguration of a new elevator. (Louisa Gouliamaki/Pool via AP)

In this Feb. 26, 2019 file photo, Albert Bourla, chief executive officer of Pfizer, prepares to testify before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on drug prices, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Bourla urged global governments not to reopen economies too quickly because of the optimism created by possible COVID-19 vaccines. He says the vaccine is one tool in controlling the disease. Bourla was speaking Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, during an online event hosted in his native Greece. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

MOSCOW — Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V will be available for people in high-risk groups at 70 medical facilities in Moscow starting on Saturday.

According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, those working in education and medical facilities, along with municipal workers, can get the shots. The vaccine will be offered to people ages 18 to 60 who don’t suffer from chronic illnesses and to women who aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding.

The advanced trial of the vaccine is still ongoing, but the shots had already been offered to people from high-risk groups, such as medical workers and teachers.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the government to start “large-scale” vaccination in Russia by the end of next week, with medical workers and teachers the first in line. The statement came hours after Britain became the first country in the West to authorize the use of a vaccine against the coronavirus developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.

Russia touted its domestically developed vaccine, Sputnik V, as the world’s “first registered COVID-19 vaccine” after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August. The vaccine received the go-ahead after having been tested on only several dozen people, which drew considerable criticism at home and abroad.

Health experts say the vaccine needs to complete advanced studies among tens of thousands of people to ensure their safety and effectiveness. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday that more than 100,000 people in Russia have been given the shots.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Russia hits record of 28,145 daily coronavirus cases

— Head of Germany’s disease control agency criticizes those not respecting pandemic restrictions

— India reports less than 40,000 daily coronavirus cases for 4th straight day, awaits vaccine rollout plan

— Greek city scraps Christmas decoration plans, will donate money to hospital

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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit Memphis on Thursday to discuss the development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, according to his office.

Memphis is home to shipping giant FedEx, which is helping in the national vaccine distribution. Pence will participate in an afternoon discussion, which will include Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

Tennessee health officials say the state is expecting to receive 56,550 doses of the potential Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in its first allocation in mid-December.

Tennessee has nearly 878 new cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks. That ranks 24th in the country for new cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The state has confirmed 4,638 coronavirus-related deaths.

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WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Navajo Nation health officials reported 310 new coronavirus cases and two more deaths on Wednesday.

The vast reservation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Tribal health officials say 166,517 people have been tested.

Residents remain under a stay-at-home order, with an exception for essential workers and essential needs like food, medication and emergencies. Essential businesses also have been ordered to limit hours to 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily. A mask requirement has been in place for much of the year.

Tribal officials say the Navajo Nation has 17,035 confirmed cases and 658 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic.

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LISBON, Portugal — Health experts in Portugal say hospitalizations have leveled off but remain high.

Portugal’s 14-day cumulative coronavirus cases per 100,000 people is 684, according to the European Centre for Disease Control. That’s a key metric in measuring the pandemic’s spread. Portugal is eighth among 31 European countries tallied by the EU agency.

The nation of 10 million people has confirmed nearly 304,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths. Health officials estimate about two-thirds of infections occur in family gatherings.

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BERLIN — The World Health Organization’s Europe director says people must remain vigilant and keep taking basic precautions ahead of the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine.

Dr. Hans Kluge says, “the virus still has the potential to do enormous damage unless we do everything in our power to stop its spread.” He adds the promise of vaccines is “phenomenal” and it’s essential for countries to have a distribution plan.

He notes in the beginning, vaccine supplies will be limited and “it is imperative that we continue to practice basic protective behaviors such as mask-wearing.”

Europe has had a surge of infections this fall, with many countries imposing new shutdowns. Kluge says while the number of new cases reported in Europe declined for the third consecutive week, the region still accounts for 40% of new global cases.

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THESSSALONIKI, Greece — A pandemic-hit city in northern Greece says it's scrapping plans to set up Christmas decorations and a nativity scene this year to donate the money to the local hospital's intensive care ward.

“We have decided to use the funds to pay for two additional ICU spaces, three medical monitors, and 1,000 protective suits for medical staff,” the mayor of Serres, Alekos Chrysafis, told The Associated Press.

Cities in northern Greece have been the hardest hit by the pandemic. The daily number of cases in the country’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, remains higher than those reported in greater Athens — an area with a population three times larger.

Greece on Thursday extended a nationwide lockdown by another week, through Dec. 14.

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TOKYO — Osaka issued a coronavirus alert, urging the residents to stay home as much as possible until mid-December because of a resurgence of the infections and hospitalizations.

“Our medical systems are in an emergency,” Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said. “We have to act now, or we won’t be able to save lives that can be saved.”

Osaka reported 386 new cases Thursday for a total of 21,404 and 341 deaths. With overcrowding hospitals, some patients were sent to neighboring areas for treatment.

Infections have been rising, including the Tokyo region, Aichi, Hokkaido and Osaka. Those areas have issued requests for bars to close early in exchange for compensation.

Nationwide, Japan has 153,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,200 deaths, according to the health ministry.

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MOSCOW — Coronavirus infections in Russia hit a record 28,145 confirmed cases on Thursday.

It’s the highest daily spike in the pandemic and an increase of 2,800 cases from the previous day. Russia’s total cases — nearly 2.4 million — remains the world’s fourth-highest. The government coronavirus task force has reported 41,607 deaths in the pandemic.

The country has been swept by a rapid resurgence of the outbreak this fall, with numbers of confirmed infections and deaths regularly hitting new highs and significantly exceeding those reported in the spring. The country’s authorities have resisted imposing a second nationwide lockdown or a widespread closure of businesses. Virus-related restrictions vary from region to region but are largely mild.

This week officials in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city and one of the hardest-hit cities in the country, announced additional restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

Local authorities ordered restaurants, cafes and bars to close between Dec. 30 and Jan. 3, and museums, theaters, concert halls and exhibition spaces to shut down for the duration of the New Year holidays between Dec. 30 and Jan. 10. Restaurants, cafes and bars must close by 7 p.m. from Dec. 25 to Dec. 29 and again from Jan. 4 to Jan. 10.

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Africa’s top public health official says 60% of the continent’s population needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two to three years.

The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, says if it takes four to five years, “the virus will be endemic in our communities.”

Concerns are growing that the continent of 1.3 billion people will be near the end of the line in obtaining doses. Nkengasong isn’t sure whether vaccines will be available in Africa before the second quarter of next year.

He says the 60% vaccination target is needed to achieve herd immunity in Africa’s 54 countries. He stressed the challenges ahead, saying “the continent as a whole has never vaccinated 200 million people in one year,” a reference to the goal of reaching 20% of the population by the end of next year.

The continent has close to 2.2 million confirmed virus cases.

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BERLIN — The head of Germany’s disease control agency has slammed people who fail to respect pandemic restrictions as the number of cases in the country stagnates.

“The situation is still very tense,” Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute said Thursday. “Too many people are still getting infected.”

His agency reported 22,046 confirmed infections in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of known cases to more than 1.1 million. Wieler appealed to people to respect social distancing and hygiene rules.

Wieler says authorities are again seeing large outbreaks in nursing homes. Almost 480 deaths from the coronavirus were reported in the past day, taking the confirmed total to 17,602.

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SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of thousands of masked students in South Korea, including 35 COVID-19 patients, are taking the country’s highly competitive university entrance exam despite a viral resurgence that has forced authorities to toughen social distancing rules.

The Education Ministry says about 493,430 students began taking the one-day test at about 1,380 test sites across South Korea on Thursday. It says the test sites include hospitals and other medical facilities where the 35 virus patients and hundreds of others placed under self-quarantine will take the exam.

The annual test is a crucial step for many students’ lives in the education-obsessed country. The university from which a South Korean graduates significantly affects job prospects, social standings and even marriage partners.

This year’s test was originally scheduled for November but was delayed due to the virus outbreak.

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ISTANBUL — Turkey’s health minister has announced a plan for vaccinations starting with an experimental inactivated coronavirus vaccine later in December to combat a surge in infections and deaths.

Minister Fahrettin Koca had previously announced an agreement with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac for 50 million doses of CoronaVac, with the first shipment to arrive after Dec. 11. The minister said early-use authorization would be granted after Turkish labs confirm the vaccine's safety.

“If developments continue positively as we expect, Turkey would be among the first countries in the world to begin vaccinations in the early phase,” Koca said Thursday.

Health care workers, citizens above 65 and people living in care homes will be the first groups to be vaccinated. Next will be essential workers and people above 50 with at least one chronic disease. Third will be people younger than 50 with at least one chronic illness, young adults and other workers would be vaccinated. The fourth and final phase will be for the rest of the population. Turkey’s president has said the vaccine will be administered free of charge.

In November, The Lancet published a study about the efficacy of Sinovac’s vaccine, saying efficacy was determined to be moderate.

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NEW DELHI — India is reporting less than 40,000 new daily coronavirus cases for a fourth straight day as it awaits a vaccine rollout for its vast population.

With 35,551 new infections reported, India’s total confirmed cases crossed 9.5 million on Thursday. Its single-day cases have remained below the 50,000 level for more than three weeks.

The Health Ministry also reported 526 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking India’s total confirmed fatalities to 138,648.

India’s capital reported 3,944 new cases in the past 24 hours with positivity rate at a two-month low of 5%. It also recorded 82 more fatalities.

India doesn’t have any advance purchase agreement with any vaccine manufacturer.

The Serum Institute of India, which has been testing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, says it will apply for emergency approval by Indian authorities in two weeks. The institute is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.

India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is conducting tests for Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

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UNITED NATIONS — Nearly 100 world leaders and several dozen ministers are slated to speak at the U.N. General Assembly’s special session starting Thursday on the response to COVID-19 and the best path to recovery from the pandemic which has claimed 1.5 million lives, shattered economies in countries rich and poor.

Assembly President Volkan Bozkir says when he took the reins of the assembly in September it would have been better to hold the high-level meeting in June. Nonetheless, he said Wednesday that the session “provides a historic moment for us to come together to beat COVID-19.”

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NEW YORK — The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts the country is about to go through “the most difficult time in the public health history of the nation.”

Dr. Robert Redfield made the comment during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation webcast Wednesday.

Redfield says earlier surges in COVID-19 illnesses were concentrated in one area of the country or another, and health care workers and equipment could be shifted from one place to another to deal with it. But now, he says,all parts of the country are seeing rising infections and illnesses.

In Redfield’s words: “The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they are going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus case, shattering the state’s previous one-day record of 18,350 as Gov. Gavin Newsom — himself quarantined at home after his family was exposed — considers a new stay-at-home order.

Following an early summer surge that prompted a new round of restrictions, California’s cases plummeted in August and September and the state relaxed restrictions, allowing more businesses to operate, indoor religious services to resume and many schools to reopen for classroom instruction.

But new cases have exploded in recent weeks. A record 8,500 people are in hospitals, including more than 2,000 in intensive care units.

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ATLANTA — The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off on an expert panel’s recommendation that health care workers and nursing home residents be the first to get coronavirus vaccinations when shots become available.

Dr. Robert Redfield’s decision was posted on the CDC website Wednesday.

Experts believe that when a vaccine becomes available, doses will be limited in the first weeks and months. That will mean officials will have to decide whether certain people should be first in line. Doctors have been watching for federal advice about how priorities should be set.

On Tuesday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 that the first people vaccinated should be health-care workers and patients in nursing homes, long-term chronic care hospitals, and other U.S. long-term care facilities.

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BOSTON -- A coalition of U.S. colleges and universities is urging Congress to pass a new coronavirus relief bill with at least $120 billion for higher education, saying the sector faces a crisis of “almost unimaginable” scale.

The letter signed by the American Council on Education and 100 other groups says financial losses caused by the pandemic are far worse than schools had expected. Colleges have laid off thousands of workers to cut costs, but the letter says the pared-down operations will unstainable without additional federal help.

Colleges have had to increase financial aid to help students who are struggling to pay tuition, and schools have lost revenue from closed dorms and dining halls.

Enrollments have also decreased amid the pandemic, with a 13% drop in freshmen across all U.S. institutions. At the same time, many states have cut their higher education budgets.

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