Here is some of the latest COVID coverage, including surges, setbacks, openings, and other mixed accounts of the ongoing health crisis from Australia, Europe, China, India, the UK, and several US states.

AUSTRALIA

Police used pepper spray to subdue protesters at an anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city. About 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the suburb of Richmond after the location of the protest was changed at the last minute to evade authorities. There were minor scuffles as well as a violent confrontation involving a handful of protesters, several of whom were arrested. Most of the demonstrators defied regulations by failing to wear masks. Some 2,000 police officers were deployed at road checkpoints and barricades, and on roving patrols, to try to stop the rally going ahead in breach of public health orders. Melbourne’s sixth lockdown began on Aug. 5.

CHINA

Officials in the northeast China city of Harbin say national level health officials have been sent to the city to deal with what may be a coronavirus outbreak. The city of 9.5 million people reported three infection cases Wednesday, a day after discovering a first case of community transmission.

After the initial finding, authorities started mass testing and closed schools. The city also ordered businesses like mahjong parlors, cinemas, and gyms to shut. City authorities say residents must display a negative virus test to be able to leave for only essential travel. Otherwise, people are being told to stay home.

DENMARK

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg says most of the national coronavirus restrictions in the Scandinavian country will be eased. The restrictions lifted include the requirement for serving patrons in restaurants and the 1-meter social distance rule. Eateries, bars, and nightclubs will be allowed to remain open after midnight, schools and kindergartens can return to normal and “handshakes will again be allowed,” a smiling Health Minister Bent Hoeie said. He stressed Norway will have “an increased preparedness” and local restriction will be imposed if there was a flareup.

Norway is the second Scandinavian country to end the restrictions after Denmark did so on Sept. 10. More than 76% of Norway’s population of 5.3 million have gotten one vaccine, and nearly 70% have gotten both shots, according to official figures.

ABU DHABI

The capital of the United Arab Emirates has ended a policy requiring those coming in from other emirates to have a recent negative coronavirus test. Abu Dhabi says that people from the UAE’s six other emirates can enter the capital without getting a test. For months, oil-rich Abu Dhabi had restricted travel, even as neighboring Dubai rapidly opened itself up to tourists. Abu Dhabi also has implemented a requirement that people prove their vaccination status to enter some public places — a stricter requirement than the country’s other emirates.

GREECE

A court in northern Greece sentenced and fined a 37-year-old anti-vaccination campaigner after he demanded his son attend elementary school classes without wearing a mask or undergoing a coronavirus test. The parent, whose name has not been made public, was found guilty of insulting behaviour and illegal entry onto state property, Thessaloniki court officials said. His sentence of 15 months in jail was suspended for three years. The court imposed a €300 ($443) fine.

INDIA

India gave out 25 million doses during a special COVID-19 vaccination drive organized on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. The Health Ministry said the special drive had raised India’s overall vaccinations to more than 790 million and health minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the feat “a golden chapter … written in the history of the country and the world.” Only China has administered more. The Chinese government said last week it had given more than 2.16 billion shots and that 1 billion Chinese people were fully vaccinated.

India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has given at least one dose to more than 62% of eligible adults and two doses to about 21%. Health ministry officials say they plan to administer over a billion shots by mid-October. India has reported more than 33 million coronavirus cases and 444,529 deaths.

ITALY

Italy is reporting up to a 40% increase in the number of people getting a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine following a government decree requiring a health pass for all workers, public and private, starting Oct. 15. The office of Italy’s coronavirus czar says there’s been a 35% one-week rise in first doses and Italian regions nationwide reported upticks of 20% to 40% for appointments to get the shot. Italy, once the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe, has fully inoculated 75% of its population ages 12 and older. Italy has reported more than 130,000 confirmed deaths, the third-highest toll in Europe after Britain and Russia.

KOREA

South Korea’s daily increase in coronavirus infections exceeded 3,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic as the country comes off its biggest holiday of the year. The 3,273 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency marked the 81st consecutive day of over 1,000 and were about 840 cases more than the previous one-day record of 2,434 set a day earlier. Officials believe the virus spread further beyond the capital region during the Chuseok holidays, the Korean version of Thanksgiving.

UK

Bishops of the Church of England have joined calls for world leaders to fulfill promises made to reduce global vaccine inequality. The bishops voted unanimously to endorse a statement made by two Church of England bodies demanding an emergency meeting of the G7, the club of wealthy democracies including Canada, the US and the UK, to commit to fulfilling vaccine equity promises. G7 leaders promised in June to donate over one billion vaccine doses to lower-income countries. Only 15% of this promised figure has so far been administered.

US

American Samoa
American Samoa reported its first case of coronavirus on Friday. The US territory’s acting governor and health officials said the islands’ first case of COVID-19 was of a resident who returned to American Samoa from Hawaii last week. The infected traveller flew in on Monday, the first day of newly resumed commercial flights from Honolulu to Pago Pago. The route had been suspended since March 2020. Officials say the resident was fully vaccinated and had traveled to Hawaii and the US mainland. They say the traveller tested negative for COVID-19 before boarding the flight back to American Samoa. American Samoa requires all travellers to be vaccinated and to quarantine.

California
San Francisco is requiring all workers at San Francisco International Airport to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Employees who are exempt must undergo weekly testing. The mandate applies to roughly 46,000 on-site personnel, including employees of contractors and retail tenants. Mayor London Breed’s office said the mandate is the first for a US airport and goes into effect immediately.

Georgia
A disaster relief organization founded by actor Sean Penn is helping Georgia’s drive to vaccinate people against the coronavirus. CORE, or Community Organized Relief Effort, has offered free vaccines at hundreds of pop-up clinics around the state, including schools, farmers’ markets, and meat plants. Only 46% of the state is fully vaccinated, well below the national average of 54%. It’s a big factor in Georgia’s nearly three-month surge in COVID infections and hospitalizations.

CORE is also offering vaccines in Washington, D.C., Oakland, California, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, and a county in North Carolina. Penn started the organization in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake killed thousands in Haiti.

Missouri
A Jackson County judge has ordered a restaurant in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, to shut down after the owner’s continued defiance of a mask mandate intended to fight the spread of COVID-19. Judge Jennifer Phillips barred Rae’s Cafe in Blue Springs from operating, rejecting owner Amanda Wohletz’s argument of medical exemptions and attempt to operate as a private club. The judge also ordered the café to cease operations until it obtained a valid food permit. This month, Judge James Kanatazar ordered a temporarily close after Wohletz ignored a health department order to close because of repeated violations of the county’s indoor mask requirement. But the business continued to operate, and its food permit was then suspended.