�������ýҕ�l

France has become the latest European country -- and the most significant tourism destination -- to remove the United States from its safe travel list, following EU recommendations in the wake of a US Covid spike. A French government decree issued on Thursday bumped the United States and Israel from the country's "green" list, down to "orange," effectively prohibiting nonessential travel to France for unvaccinated visitors. (Neild and Vandoome, 9/10)

France granted citizenship to 12,000 COVID frontline workers this week in a show of gratitude for their efforts and sacrifices. Immigrants comprise a quarter of the essential workers who remained active in the Île-de-France province during lockdowns, per data from a French health observatory. (Chen, 9/11)

France's former health minister Agnès Buzyn has been indicted and accused of "endangering the lives of others" during her response to the pandemic, per AFP. She will appeal the charge. Buzyn was health minister when the pandemic exploded in France last year. Buzyn, who was accused Friday of "failing to fight a disaster," is the first French official charged over the coronavirus crisis, Le Monde notes. It comes as President Emmanuel Macron faces scrutiny over his response to the health crisis. (9/12)

Boris Johnson will unveil the U.K.’s new approach in tackling Covid this week, preparing the country for a mass booster vaccination program and potential shots for teenagers -- but scrapping plans for mandatory vaccine certificates in England. The prime minister is expected to hold a press conference Tuesday outlining how a beefed-up inoculation program will try to keep the virus under control over the high-risk period of autumn and winter. “The prime minister will be setting out tomorrow a lot more of the detail of the roadmap ahead, preparing for winter,” Cabinet minister Therese Coffey told Sky News on Monday. (Ashton, 9/13)

Australians have been told to "dust off (their) passports" after the federal government announced it would begin a trial of vaccine passports with some countries this week -- the latest step in Australia's reopening to the world. Australia closed its borders almost 18 months ago in a bid to contain Covid-19. But now, with vaccination rates rising, the country is possibly just months away from relaxing restrictions on international travel. (Westcott, 9/13)

While most countries are still trying to finish inoculating their populations for the first time, Israel is already preparing for a second round of booster doses. The country is making efforts to secure sufficient supply in case a fourth round of Covid-19 shots is needed, according to a top health official. “We don’t know when it will happen; I hope very much that it won’t be within six months, like this time, and that the third dose will last for longer,” Health Ministry Director General Nachman Ash said in an interview with Radio 103FM. Israel began a drive to administer booster shots at the beginning of August, and has so far inoculated about 2.8 million people with a third dose. (Al Lawati, 9/12)

The European Medicines Agency is reviewing booster data from Pfizer and Moderna, with a decision on the use of a Pfizer booster dose six months after the second shot expected in the next few weeks. The moves are in line with the U.S. plans to roll out booster shots beginning Sept. 20, subject to approval from health officials. “There is still overall considerable protection from severe disease and hospitalization in the general population” from the initial vaccines, Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccines strategy at the EMA, said Thursday in a briefing. “However, an increase in breakthrough infections has been reported in different parts of the world due to the delta variant” and most EU members are now discussing whether vulnerable groups would benefit from a third dose. (Ring, 9/11)

The U.K. government is ending a data deal with Palantir Technologies Inc., following criticism from privacy groups about the lack of transparency on how the contracts were awarded to the U.S. data giant. The Department of Health and Social Care put out a tender in August to shift its Adult Social Care Dashboard away from third-party providers to its own system, built by BAE Systems Plc, Europe’s largest defense firm, according to public documents. These said DHSC had until Sept. 30 to transfer the data to this platform before it would have to renew its license with Palantir. (Turner, 9/10)

Britain's state-run National Health Service will on Monday begin the world's biggest trial of Grail Inc's (GRAL.O) flagship Galleri blood test that can be used to detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear. The Galleri test looks at the DNA in a patient's blood to determine if any come from cancer cells. Earlier diagnosis of cancers leads to dramatically increased survival rates. (9/12)

Thirty cases of pneumonic plague have been reported in Madagascar, according to the latest communicable disease threats report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The cases, 12 of which have been confirmed, were reported on Aug 29 by health authorities in the Arivonimamo district in the Itasy region of Madagascar. Seven cases have been fatal, all of them in the municipality of Miandrandra. (9/10)

An outbreak of dengue fever is suspected of killing dozens of people in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh since the start of September, and authorities have launched a campaign to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. Dinesh Kumar Premi, the chief medical officer in Firozabad, the most affected district in the state, told Reuters that 58 people, many of them children, had died in his district alone, raising fears that Uttar Pradesh is in the midst of its worst dengue outbreak in years. (Sharma, 9/13)

The health care system in Afghanistan is teetering on the edge of collapse, endangering the lives of millions and compounding a deepening humanitarian crisis, public health experts warn. The country’s health care has been propped up by aid from international donors. But after the Taliban seized power, the World Bank and other organizations froze $600 million in health care aid. The Biden administration, too, is struggling with how to dispense donor money to a country now being run by several senior Taliban leaders whom the United State (Mandavilli, 9/12)