Premiers, monarchs, and other dignitaries will not be required to present proof of vaccination or a certificate of vaccination. Abdulla Shahid, President of the Assembly, says that they will simply verify their vaccination by scanning their ID badges.
The U.N. is currently trying to figure out how to make New York City mandatory vaccination for convention centers. Russia has criticised the policy and Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil's President) said that he does not plan to be vaccinated soon. In July 2020, he contracted coronavirus.
Shahid stated earlier this week that he supports the New York City policy, but did not give any details about how it would work. Shahid, a Maldivian of 59 years, was elected President of the U.N. General Assembly.
More than 100 heads and more than 20 foreign ministers will be speaking in person next week. Others nations will be participating via video. Leaders discuss international issues and highlight domestic issues on the global stage. This allows them to court allies and assail enemies. Last year's assembly's highest-ranking annual meeting was forced to be largely virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
ATLANTA -- An actor Sean Penn founded a disaster relief organization to help Georgia fight the coronavirus.
CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) has provided vaccines in hundreds of pop up clinics throughout the state, including schools and farmers' markets.
The state's 46% vaccinated rate is well below the national average (54%). This is a major reason for Georgia's almost three-month-long surge in COVID infection and hospitalizations.
CORE provides free vaccines. Arthur Blank, the billionaire owner and founder of the Atlanta Falcons, has provided funding for CORE's community outreach. Margaret Herro, CORE's Georgia director, stated that the group will spend more time giving vaccines to employees at their workplaces, where there is better turnout.
CORE also offers vaccines in Washington, D.C., Oakland, California, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, and one county in North Carolina. The organization was founded by Penn in 2010, after thousands were killed in a devastating earthquake in Haiti.
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COLUMBIA (S.C.) -- South Carolina has set new records in COVID-19 hospitalizations and new cases are approaching last winter's peak.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster maintained that it was up to the parents to decide whether children are allowed to wear masks at school, even though the number of new cases in South Carolina soared from 150 per day on average and more than 5,000 each day.
Teachers, students, and parents are now dealing with the consequences of the Delta variant. Nearly two dozen schools and two whole districts were forced to go online within one month after returning from the field.
Officials from the state of education and health say that the ban on schools enforcing a statewide mask ban has taken away one of the best tools they have to stop the spread COVID-19. In early September, nearly 2,600 COVID-19 victims were admitted to state hospitals. This is a new record.
"We spiked too soon the football. Instead of listening to the medical professionals and interpreting data, he was guided by Republican Governors Association talking point," Democratic state Senator Marlon Kimpson from Charleston stated.
Some legislators from both parties want a special session to repeal this rule and give local governments the ability to make decisions. The state Supreme Court is currently considering a lawsuit to determine if the mask provision is legal.
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DUBAI -- DUBAI has been declared the capital of United Arab Emirates. It was previously required that all visitors from other emirates have had a negative coronavirus test.
Abu Dhabi announced Saturday that citizens of the UAE's six other Emirates could enter the capital starting Sunday without undergoing a physical test.
Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich country, had restrained travel for months while Dubai, a neighbor, opened up rapidly to tourists.
Abu Dhabi has also implemented a requirement for people to prove their vaccination status in order to enter certain public places. This is a more stringent requirement than other emirates.
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NEW DELHI -- India distributed 25 million vaccines in a COVID-19 vaccination drive that was held on the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi was turning 71 on Friday, when the campaign was launched. Saturday's special drive raised India’s total vaccinations to over 790 million, according to the Health Ministry.
Mansukh Mandaviya, Health Minister, described the feat as "a golden chapter...written in the history both of the country"
China is the only country that has administered more vaccines. This week, the Chinese government claimed that it had administered more than 2.16 trillion shots and that 1 Billion Chinese were fully vaccinated.
India, a country with nearly 1.4 billion inhabitants, has administered at least one dose of the drug to more than 62% of eligible adults, and two doses of the drug to approximately 21%. Officials from the Health Ministry claim they will administer more than a billion shots by mid October.
India has recorded more than 33 million cases of coronavirus and 444,529 deaths. India is currently reporting more than 30,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day.
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MELBOURNE (Australia) -- Police used pepper spray Saturday to subdue protestors at an anti-lockdown rally held in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.
After the location of the protest was changed last minute to avoid authorities, about 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Richmond.
A few protesters were involved in a violent confrontation. There were also minor scuffles. A number of protesters were detained.
Many of the demonstrators refused to wear masks and defied regulations.
To stop the rally from progressing in violation of public health orders, around 2,000 police officers were stationed at road checkpoints and barricades and on roving patrols.
On Aug. 5, Melbourne began its sixth lockdown. Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state reported 535 new infections on Saturday and one death from COVID-19 in the last 24-hours.
