Novel coronavirus

France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes

By Constantin Gouvy, Associated Press

In Paris, separate protest marches by the far-right and the far-left wound through different parts of the city. Demonstrations were also held in Strasbourg in the east, Lille in the north, Montpellier in the south and elsewhere.

U.S. to send first vaccine doses to Africa in coming days

By Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee, Associated Press

The shipments come as part of an initial supply of 80 million doses that President Joe Biden had pledged to send out by the end of June, though deliveries were slowed by regulatory and logistical hurdles.

'Pandemic of the unvaccinated' burdens busy U.S. hospitals

By Heather Hollingsworth, Josh Funk, Associated Press

With the highly contagious delta variant spreading rapidly across the country, cases in the U.S. are up about 70% over the last week, hospital admissions are up about 36% and deaths rose by 26%, according to the Centers for Disease…

WATCH: Biden says virus disinformation is 'killing people'

By Associated Press, Zeke Miller, Associated Press

President Joe Biden said Friday that social media companies are “killing people” by failing to police misinformation on their platforms about COVID-19 vaccines.

Eiffel Tower reopens and now requires COVID passes

By Deborah Gouffran

The "Iron Lady" of Paris was ordered shut in October as France battled its second virus surge of the pandemic. It opened to the public Friday with "Welcome" messages flashing in multiple languages.

With virus cases rising, mask mandate back on in Los Angeles

By Christopher Weber, John Antczak, Associated Press

Los Angeles County will again require masks indoors even when people are vaccinated. The public health officer of the nation's largest county said there's now "substantial community transmission."…

As 9 out of 10 U.S. children remain unvaccinated, Surgeon General pushes back against misinformation

By Laura Santhanam

Public health experts fear that the more the virus spreads among the unvaccinated, the more chance that variants could mutate and unravel progress made against the pandemic in pockets of the country where the vaccination rate remains dangerously low.

WHO chief says it was 'premature' to rule out COVID lab leak

By Frank Jordans, Maria Cheng, Associated Press

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the international team that traveled to China earlier this year to investigate the source of COVID-19.

Vaccine deliveries rising as delta virus variant slams Asia

By David Rising, Victoria Milko, Associated Press

As many Asian countries battle their worst surge of COVID-19 infections, the slow flow of vaccine doses from around the world is finally picking up speed.