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| - The EU on Wednesday agreed to lift coronavirus restrictions for US travellers as Western countries moved toward a return to pre-Covid life, but in a stark reminder that the global pandemic was far from over, Moscow ordered mandatory jabs over a "dramatic" rise in infections. The United States was among eight countries and territories added to a European Union white list, exempting them from the Covid-19 travel ban ahead of the busy summer holiday season critical to the economies of many member nations. EU states can still choose to require travellers from these areas to undergo Covid-19 testing or to observe periods in quarantine, but once the new list is approved the recommendation is that they should be exempted from a blanket travel ban that the bloc imposed in March 2020. The other countries and regions added to the white list on Wednesday were Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong, officials and diplomats said. France meanwhile said that masks would no longer be required outdoors from Thursday and that an unpopular Covid curfew would be scrapped on June 20, 10 days earlier than initially planned, thanks to falling infections. "The health situation of our country is improving faster than we expected," said Prime Minister Jean Castex. On the economic front, Spain and Portugal became the first EU countries to win Brussels' approval Wednesday for their recovery plans seeking funding from the bloc's multi-billion-euro coronavirus rescue fund. In the US, Covid restrictions have been dropped across the country, with New York City and the state of California lifting nearly all curbs. The easing of curbs came as the national Covid-19 death toll in the US topped 600,000 -- the largest in the world by far, ahead of hard-hit Brazil and India. After a much-criticised early response to the pandemic, the US has since organised one of the world's most effective immunisation drives. "We have hit 70 percent vaccination," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday as he announced the lifting of Covid measures. "It means that we can now return to life as we know it." Governor Gavin Newsom told Californians that they could ditch their masks nearly everywhere, except for schools, hospitals and public transport. Royal Caribbean said however it is pushing back the scheduled July 3 maiden voyage of a new ship by almost a month from a Florida port after eight crew members tested positive for Covid-19. It said the test results came after the staff was vaccinated but before the shots were fully effective. In India, which saw overwhelmed health services and record infections and deaths in April and May, reopened its famed Taj Mahal monument on Wednesday. Cases have declined in recent weeks, with several major cities including New Delhi and Mumbai easing many restrictions. Thailand meanwhile said it planned to fully reopen to foreign visitors in four months. But in a stark reminder that the global pandemic that has killed more than 3.8 million people worldwide was far from over, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin warned "the coronavirus situation continues to unfold dramatically". And Sobyanin ordered compulsory vaccinations for Muscovites working in the service industry as he pushed for a new mass inoculation campaign. Sobyanin, whose city of around 12 million is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Russia, said just 1.8 million residents had been inoculated. This is despite Russia having launched a mass campaign of free jabs in December and having developed and approved four vaccines. In other part of the world, South Africa's Covid-19 infections jumped by 13,246 on Wednesday, the highest daily total in five months, government said. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday extended a nightime curfew and limited alcohols sales in a bid to contain a third wave of infections. Other countries were moving ahead with big events but trying to limit risks as much as possible. Japan, which next month hosts the 2020 Olympics delayed a year by the pandemic, said on Wednesday that it planned to set a cap of 10,000 fans at sports events ahead of the games. The proposed measure would come into force after a Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country ends on June 20, and would last until the end of August, said Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of virus measures. The plan, expected to become official later this week, would limit spectators to 50 percent of a venue's capacity or 10,000 people, whichever is smaller, he said. In Saudi Arabia, robots began handing out bottles of sacred water in Mecca this week in preparation for a socially distanced Hajj pilgrimage in Islam's holiest city. burs-lc/har
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