Covid-19 live updates: Free N95 masks now available at some U.S. pharmacies, with wider rollout expected soon

The WHO says it might be, but ‘our work is not done.’There’s a new version of omicron, but so far it doesn’t appear to be more dangerousLondon police to investigate Downing Street parties, raising stakes for Boris JohnsonNew York state, seeking to save its indoor mask mandate, moves to appeal court rulingPfizer and BioNTech begin testing omicron-specific vaccine on adultsHouse members ask CDC to release race and gender data on long covid Elton John concerts canceled after musician contracts covid-19Key coronavirus updates from around the worldIsrael advisory board recommends offering fourth vaccine dose for adultsDeSantis, White House spar over treatment that doesn’t work against omicronLabor Dept. The WHO says it might be, but ‘our work is not done.’There’s a new version of omicron, but so far it doesn’t appear to be more dangerousLondon police to investigate Downing Street parties, raising stakes for Boris JohnsonNew York state, seeking to save its indoor mask mandate, moves to appeal court rulingWhy?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts.Free N95 masks are now available at some U.S. stores as part of the White House’s plan to hand out 400 million of them from the Strategic National Stockpile.Midwest grocer Meijer said Monday that it has received some 3 million N95 masks from the Health and Human Services Department and will hand out boxed sets of three to customers who want them. The farewell tour’s next stops are still scheduled on John’s website for this weekend, with many more performances anticipated throughout 2022 and into 2023 — some of them rescheduled from last year because of the pandemic.The American Airlines Center told fans to keep their Dallas tickets “as they will be honored at the rescheduled dates to be announced soon.”Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe from news service reports.Israeli health authorities said Tuesday that a pandemic advisory board has recommended that a fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine be made available to all adults, which would be a major expansion of the country’s already aggressive booster shot programs.Israel started offering fourth doses to people 60 and older early this month and stands out even among the many countries embracing boosters to fight the omicron variant of the coronavirus. But health leaders in the United States and other wealthy nations have called a third dose key to protecting from the omicron variant, which is better at evading vaccines’ defenses.Booster shots in U.S. have strongly protected against severe disease from omicron variant, CDC studies showCritics of Israel’s fourth-dose push have called for more data.Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the infectious-disease unit at the Sheba Medical Center, has said that fourth shots appeared to be less effective against omicron compared to other variants.“We see many infected with omicron who received the fourth dose,” said Regev-Yochay, according to the Times of Israel. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” said Kennedy, a longtime opponent of vaccines who has spread unsupported claims about shots shown to protect against the coronavirus.On Tuesday, after intense criticism, he tweeted that to “the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry.”Federal health authorities on Monday warned against travel to 15 countries and territories, including Costa Rica, the United Arab Emirates and five Caribbean destinations, because of “high risk” levels of coronavirus.By issuing Level 4 advisories, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants” in those locales. The agency also issued its highest coronavirus warning for Peru, Colombia, Fiji, Kuwait, Mongolia, Niger, Romania and Tunisia.There is hope in the air.Growing global immunity from the highly transmissible omicron coronavirus variant, coupled with encouraging downward trends of infections in a number of countries, seems to have caused a shift in tone among global public health officials, who are oh-so-cautiously signaling the pandemic may be entering a more manageable stage.The World Health Organization marked two years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe and central Asia on Monday and said it was “entering a new phase.”“The pandemic is far from over, but I am hopeful we can end the emergency phase in 2022 and address other health threats that urgently require our attention,” Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said in a statement.He said the omicron variant offered “plausible hope for stabilization and normalization,” in Europe but warned “our work is not done.”As a new version of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads in parts of Asia and Europe, the World Health Organization recommended Monday that officials begin investigating its characteristics to determine whether it poses new challenges for pandemic-weary nations.Known as BA.