Italy announced that it had reached its goal of having 80% of the population over 12 vaccinated, according to official data published Sunday.

Over 43 million people out of a population of about 60 million are now fully immunized.

Guido Rasi, a former director at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and currently serving as an adviser to Italy's COVID-19 commissioner, said it was "not just a symbolic threshold."

"It's a level that, calculations show, correlates with a significant reduction in the circulation of the virus and a drastic cut in hospital admissions."

Despite the good news, Italy on Saturday saw protests against vaccine passports escalate violently and turn into riots.

Europe

Russia registered 28,647 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, and 988 deaths, an all-time high for the country.

The Kremlin has blamed people's unwillingness to get vaccinated for the continued spike in cases and deaths.

The government is insisting that residents receive only the Russian-developed Sputnik vaccine, but many people have expressed their doubts as to the efficacy of the jab that is not recognized as effective by the European Union and the United States. 

Asia

Malaysia has lifted travel restrictions for vaccinated residents as it reached its target of 90% vaccination amongst eligible adults.

Previously, Malaysians traveling abroad had to apply for permission under a restricted set of circumstances. The government has said that it will not reimpose a lockdown even if cases rise, as long as hospitalizations stay low.

Oceania

In Australia, Sydney was set to reopen after a months-long lockdown. Businesses are set to reopen to fully vaccinated residents on Monday. 

"It's been a hundred days of blood, sweat, no beers, but we've got it back in action tomorrow," New South Wales state leader Dominic Perrottet said.

New South Wales has reached the 70% vaccination rate that was a condition of the reopening. Neighboring Victoria is expected to do the same later in October.

Australia has had some of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world, but has recently walked back from its long policy of trying to achieve "zero COVID" as the delta variant and increased vaccination changed the pace of the pandemic.

es/fb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)