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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:.

UK doctors urge government to review policy of delaying 2nd virus vaccine shot for 12 weeks.

Arizona has the worst infection rate in the country with 1 in every 141 residents diagnosed with the coronavirus in the past week.

The Department of Health Services on Friday reported 8,099 new cases and 229 more deaths.

With coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths at record highs in recent days, the federal government hasn’t received enough vaccine for the country’s 750,000 front-line medical workers.

Deaths related to the virus in the previous 24 hours reached 1,440.

Daily deaths reached a new record for a fifth day in a row at 234 on Friday, bringing the total to 9,920 in a country of 10.3 million.

The country also faces the challenge of holding a general election on Sunday.

France’s hospitals hold more COVID patients than in October, when President Emmanuel Macron imposed a second lockdown.

The government has so far sought to avoid a full new lockdown.

LONDON — Britain’s main doctors’ organization says it is concerned about the U.K.’s decision to give people a second dose of coronavirus vaccine up to 12 weeks after the first, rather than the shorter gap recommended by manufacturers and the World Health Organization.

The U.K., which has Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, adopted the policy in order to give as many people a first dose of the vaccine as quickly as possible.

So far almost 5.5 million people have received a first dose of either a vaccine made by Pfizer or one developed by AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca has said it believes a dose of its vaccine offers protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested the efficacy of its jab after such a long gap.

The British Medical Association urged England’s chief medical officer to “urgently review” the policy for the Pfizer vaccine.

It says there was “growing concern from the medical profession regarding the delay of the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine as the U.K.’s strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries.”.

announced the world’s first coronavirus lockdown, bringing the bustling central Chinese industrial and transport center to a virtual standstill almost overnight.

Wuhan accounted for the bulk of China’s 4,635 deaths from COVID-19, a number that has largely stayed static for months.

The city has been largely free of further outbreaks since the lockdown was lifted on April 8, but questions persist as to where the virus originated and whether Wuhan and Chinese authorities acted fast enough and with sufficient transparency to allow the world to prepare for a pandemic.

— California is reporting a one-day record of 764 COVID-19 deaths but the rate of new infections is falling8

The deaths reported Friday by the California Department of Public Health top the previous mark of 708 set on Jan.

The 23,024 new cases reported Friday are less than half the mid-December peak of nearly 54,000.

Kate Brown on Friday defended her decision to reject federal guidelines and prioritize teachers for the COVID-19 vaccine before the elderly, stating that if all of Oregon’s seniors were vaccinated first teachers would likely not be vaccinated before the school year and many students would not return to in-person learning.