Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

TORONTO — An Ontario program that distributes free rapid tests for COVID-19 at grocery stores and pharmacies will end after this month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ashish Jha, the White House’s point person on the COVID-19 response, will depart from the administration next week.

MILAN (AP) — A special Italian court has shut down a probe into whether the country's former premier and former health minister caused unnecessary deaths by failing to extend a lockdown zone in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda's longtime president says he is taking “forced leave” after testing positive for COVID-19.

SEATTLE (AP) — Six people from Washington, Arizona and Texas have been arrested and accused of fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars of COVID-19 aid from an assistance program meant for renters, federal prosecutors said. U.S.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese writer Haruki Murakami says walls are increasingly built and dividing people and countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic fueled fear and skepticism.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday received one of New Zealand's highest honors for her service leading the country through a mass shooting and pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) — A three-year pause on student loan payments will end this summer regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the White House plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loan debt.

LONDON (AP) — Critics accuse the British administration of running “government by WhatsApp” because of the popularity of the messaging app with politicians and officials.

LONDON (AP) — The British government has refused an order to hand over a sheaf of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s personal messages to the country’s COVID-19 pandemic inquiry.