Anita Berg welcomes health workers to the Well-being bus Wednesday at Homerton University hospital in London. The bus, which is staffed by volunteer aircrew, is providing free drinks and snacks to NHS staff at the hospital as part of project wingman. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Here are summaries of the latest Associated Press stories worldwide on the coronavirus pandemic, including the White House says President Joe Biden is using the Defense Production Act to help bolster vaccine production, at-home coronavirus testing kits and surgical gloves.

A White House spokesman says the U.S. is investing in six manufacturers to develop at-home and point-of-care tests for the coronavirus, with the goal of producing 60 million tests by the end of the summer.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says President Joe Biden is using the Defense Production Act to help bolster vaccine production, at-home coronavirus testing kits and surgical gloves.

Tim Manning, the White House’s COVID-19 supply coordinator, says the administration will help Pfizer clear a bottleneck around capabilities with vaccine production by giving the drugmaker first priority to needed supplies.

Manning says the U.S. is also investing in six manufacturers to develop at-home and point-of-care tests for the coronavirus, with the goal of producing 60 million tests by the end of the summer.

Manning says, “The country is well behind where we need to be in testing,” and the new contracts will help boost supply.

Manning expects the nation will produce more than 1 billion gloves a month by the end of the year.

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LONDON — The developers of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine say the shot appears to work against the variant detected in Britain late last year.

It’s similar to previously reported results by other vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer and Moderna.

Andrew Pollard of Oxford University, which helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine, says the shot also appears to reduce the amount of virus in people infected with COVID-19. That could potentially slow the disease’s spread. The research hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Sarah Gilbert of Oxford says it should be straightforward to tweak their vaccine to account for the variant detected in the U.K. She says vaccine manufacturers could quickly insert a new gene sequence from the variant into the virus needed to make the vaccine. Gilbert adds scientists are already in talks with regulatory agencies about how they might quickly authorize any new vaccine. It’s a similar process for seasonal flu vaccines.

Also, researchers are studying the potential effectiveness of the vaccine against the variant that arose in South Africa.

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LONDON — The UK government says it will support a German biopharmaceutical company’s effort to develop vaccines to combat new variants of the coronavirus.

Tuebingen, Germany-based CureVac will produce the vaccines in the U.K. and supply the government with 50 million doses of the shots if they gain regulatory approval. It comes as public health officials around the world raise concerns about new virus variants that are possibly more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines. While viruses mutate constantly, most of the changes cause little concern. But scientists are closely tracking these mutations to make sure they quickly identify variants of concern.

Earlier this week, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said it would invest in CureVac for the development of new vaccines targeting emerging variants, using its messenger RNA technology to attack the disease. GSK said it plans to invest 150 million euros ($181 million) in the project.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greece has approved the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for use in people under 65.

The health ministry says the country’s National Vaccination Committee unanimously approved the vaccine’s use for people 18 to 64 and recommended a 12-week interval between the first and second doses.

The committee says the guidance could be amended as more data on the vaccine becomes available.

Vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to begin in Greece after Feb. 12, according to the secretary general of primary healthcare Marios Themistokleous.

Greece, a country of 11 million people, is currently vaccinating those 80 and over, as well as health care workers. A total of 359,723 shots have been administered, with 68,464 people having received both doses of the vaccine.

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PARIS — France is urging people to use the option of working from home.

Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne told Bleu radio today as many as 2.5 million workers who could “easily work from home” are going to the office instead. “If your job can be done remotely, you should be working remotely five days a week.”

The government has been urging work from home for those professions that allow it since the coronavirus resurged in October. But unlike during France’s first lockdown last spring, many offices have stayed open.

The government plans to step up inspections of companies to ensure that anyone able to work from home is doing so.

France has imposed 12-hour-a-day nationwide curfew but has stopped short of imposing a third lockdown because current virus infections have stabilized, although cases remain high.

France has registered 3.3 million cases and 78,000 confirmed deaths, the third highest in Europe and seventh globally.

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LONDON — Britain’s drug regulator says the coronavirus vaccines being used across the country appear safe and that “the benefits continue to far outweigh any risks,” according to its latest monitoring data.

In a statement published today, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency say of the more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccines administered, there have been 22,820 reports of suspected side effects, for a rate of about 3 per 1,000 doses.

The figures are based on vaccines given to people from Dec. 9, 2020, to Jan. 24. The COVID-19 vaccines currently being used in Britain are made by Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, which were both approved for use in December.

“The vast majority of side effects are mild and all are in line with most types of vaccine, including the seasonal flu vaccine,” the agency said. It noted the most commonly reported side effects were sore arms and mild flu-like symptoms.

Last month, Norwegian authorities told doctors to consider whether the risks of the Pfizer vaccine were warranted before giving the shot to extremely frail or terminally ill patients. The recommendation came after there were deaths reported of people who had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency issued a report last week saying it had no evidence the Pfizer vaccine was responsible for the deaths and it appeared safe and effective.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan official says Russia has offered to help produce its COVID-19 vaccine locally and the government is looking into the possibility of packaging it in two factories.

Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva. secretary to the ministry of COVID-19 prevention, told media that Russia made the offer during negotiations for vaccines.

“We have two good factories in Sri Lanka, and we are studying…(if) we are able to bring the Sputnik V vaccine here and vial it. If we manage to do that, we will move from being a country that imports vaccines to an exporter of vaccines,” he said.

Sri Lanka has so far approved only the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic use and has received 500,000 doses from India, which produces the jab developed in Britain under license.

China has offered Sri Lanka a grant of vaccines, but the ones developed in China have not been approved by Sri Lankan regulators yet.

Sri Lanka has reported a total of 67,115 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 339 deaths.

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WARSAW, Poland – Poland’s prime minister says hotel, theaters, ski lifts, swimming pools and other facilities will be allowed to reopen with conditions starting next week.

Prime Minster Mateusz Morawiecki said today that the country’s existing pandemic restrictions have led to a “fragile stabilization” in the number of new COVID-19 cases but the number of deaths, around 400 daily, remains “very disturbing.”

He says that’s why the government is acting with caution and lifting restrictions in small steps.

Starting Feb. 12, indoor facilities like hotels and theaters will be allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity and strictly adhere to infection-control measures such as social distancing and mask use. Hotels will be able to offer food only through room service.

Restaurants and fitness centers will remain closed.

Morawiecki said decisions on opening more businesses are conditioned on how well people observe the rules for curbing infections.

A nation of some 38 million, Poland has confirmed over 1.5 million COVID-19 cases, including almost 39,000 deaths.

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BERLIN — Germany’s health minister says first batches of the newly authorized AstraZeneca vaccine for will be delivered to the country’s 16 states today.

Jens Spahn said the addition of a third vaccine would “make a real difference” to Germany’s immunization campaign, which has so far been sluggish compared to the United States or Britain.

But Spahn said that, for now, the AstraZeneca shot will only be given to people aged 18-64, due to lack of data on older age groups.

He cited the additional vaccine as one of several positive signs for the country’s fight against the pandemic, along with the fact that for the first time in two months Germany has fewer than 200,000 people infected with COVID-19 and the nationwide number of newly confirmed cases per week has dropped to 80 per 100,000 inhabitants.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Thursday that the target remains 50 cases per week for every 100,000 people.

Klaus Cichutek, the head of Germany’s medicines regulator, said his agency doesn’t currently recommend stretching the time period between first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as practiced in Britain, where about 10.5 million people have received a first shot, compared to 2.1 million in Germany.

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BUDAPEST — Hungary could be the first country in the European Union to administer a Russian COVID-19 vaccine as early as next week.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said during a radio interview that health authorities were performing the final tests on the vaccine Sputnik V, and that a Chinese shot produced by state-owned company Sinopharm was also undergoing late-stage evaluations. Hungary has purchased 2 million doses of the Russian and 5 million doses of the Chinese vaccine.

All people over the age of 60 who wish to be vaccinated will receive an injection by March 15, Orban said, adding that around 2 million Hungarians could be vaccinated by April 1. That’s roughly 20 percent of the population.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis will meet Orban in Budapest today where the leaders will discuss Hungary’s experiences with Sputnik V, according to a tweet by Babis.

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LONDON — British officials say everyone arriving in the country from coronavirus hot spots will have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine starting Feb. 15 in a bid to stop new variants of the virus reaching the U.K.

The government is facing criticism for the delay in implementing the policy, which it first announced in late January.

Arrivals from high-risk countries will have to quarantine in approved hotels patrolled by security guards, and will be billed for their stay. The U.K. says it has sought advice from Australia and New Zealand, where quarantine hotels have been used to contain COVID-19.

The main opposition Labour Party said today it was “beyond comprehension” that the policy was being introduced so late, 50 days after a new, more transmissible strain of the virus from South Africa had been identified. Labour borders spokesman Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government was doing “too little, too late.”

Britain has experienced Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak with more than 110,000 confirmed deaths.

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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is further tightening entry rules in an effort to limit the growing spread of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus.

Travelers from high-risk countries have to present a negative PCR test on arrival that is not older than 72 hours and must go into quarantine for at least five days before another PCR test. They also have to fill in an online form before their trip and wear a respirator for the first 10 days of their visits.

High-risk countries include Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Baltics states and most other countries outside the EU.

Those traveling from less risky countries are asked to present a fast antigen test on arrival.

The measure becomes effective today. The Czech Republic has already banned all tourist trips.

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JERUSALEM — Israel plans to begin slowly easing its latest coronavirus lockdown on Sunday, hoping that its rapid vaccination campaign helps to contain an outbreak accelerated by new variants.

A government statement released early today details the lifting of restrictions. People will no longer have to remain within 1,000 meters (yards) of home, national parks will reopen and restaurants can offer takeout. Workplaces not open to the public can also reopen.

Israel has launched one of the world’s most successful vaccination drives, inoculating more than a third of its population of 9.3 million in a matter or weeks. But the rate of new cases has remained high, in part because of more contagious variants from Britain and South Africa.

Israel has been reporting some 7,000 new infections a day, one of the highest in the developed world. Nearly 5,000 people have died, more than a quarter of them in January alone. There have been three nationwide lockdowns since the start of the pandemic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urging Israelis to get vaccinated, with a particular focus on people over 50. The rate of vaccinations has slowed recently, with some apparent hesitancy among Arab citizens, ultra-Orthodox Jews and younger people.

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WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials are weighing sending masks to every American as they hope to nudge individuals to do their part in lowering coronavirus transmission rates.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain told NBC News the administration officials are looking at using mask supplies the government already has in its stockpile.

Klain says the administration hopes to make an announcement on a potential move “in the next few days or next week.”

Biden has pleaded for Americans to wear masks during the first 100 days of his administration. It’s a step he said could help save thousands of lives as Americans await their turn to be vaccinated.