Coronavirus News Update – June 18: UEFA Could Move Euro 2020 Final Due to U.K. Pandemic Restrictions

Fans celebrating the Euro 2008 that was held in Vienna

Only weeks before the Euro 2020 final, organizers are considering moving the match from London to another location.  Officials from UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations or Union der europäischen Fußballverbände, are in discussions with the British government to allow exemptions to pandemic travel restrictions that would allow thousands of overseas fans and dignitaries to attend matches in London.  If no agreement can be reached, UEFA would be forced to move the final matches to another city.

As of Friday morning, the world has recorded over 178.3 million Covid-19 cases and has seen 3.86 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, over 162.8 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus.

In the United States, the death toll, which recently crossed the 600,000 mark, is now 616,443.  Since the start of the pandemic the country has recorded over 34.37 million individual cases, a higher figure than any other country.

Since the start of vaccinations at the end of last year over 2.5 billion doses have been administered across the globe as of Friday morning, the equivalent of over 33 doses for every 100 people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Friday, 175.9 million people in the United States – or 53% –have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 44.5%, or 147.8 million people, are fully vaccinated, bringing the total number of doses dispensed in the United States to 314.9 million. Breaking this down further, 65% of the population over the age of 18 – or 167.8 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 55.2% of the same group – or 142.5 million people – is fully vaccinated.

Bruce Springsteen fans who were inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine will be turned away from seeing “Springsteen on Broadway” when it reopens on June 26 at the St. James Theatre. Audience members are required to provide proof of having been fully vaccinated in order to enter the theater and need to have had vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Only the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson Jannsen vaccines have received FDA approval.

Malta reopened to visitors from the United States but only from 38 specified states as well as from Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico and a negative coronavirus test is required. The list of states includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, among others.

Kurt Stolz contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)