The meeting on Friday is aimed at bolstering vaccine roll-outs to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus variants now fuelling the pandemic.

The virtual meeting, called with less than five days’ notice, would also examine the 21-nation APEC group’s response to its biggest economic crisis since World War II, Ardern said.

“It’s a unique opportunity to get APEC leaders together to discuss how we get our region through the health crisis and accelerate economic recovery,” she told reporters on Thursday.

New Zealand is scheduled to host an online summit of APEC leaders in November but Ardern said the extraordinary circumstances created by COVID-19 warranted an additional urgent meeting.

At the meeting, Ardern will argue for increased resources for the COVAX programme, which was set up to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines but has struggled to secure enough doses for low-income nations.

READ: New Zealand’s Ardern says special APEC meeting to focus on economic impact of pandemic

While 70 per cent of the population is vaccinated in some developed countries, the figure is less than 1 per cent for low-income countries, according to the United Nations.

Ardern also wants greater powers for the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the establishment of cross-border systems to rapidly identify and respond to future pandemics.

“It’s clear our global community was not adequately prepared for COVID-19, it’s also clear that COVID-19 will not be the last global health risk that we face,” she said.

On trade, Ardern said leaders needed to ensure global supply chains remained open and resist the urge to “turn inward” because of the pandemic.

APEC trade ministers had already agreed last month to expedite the trade of COVID-19 vaccines and medical material across the region, she added.

But Ardern played down expectations of major announcements from Friday’s meeting, saying it was primarily an opportunity to bring leaders together to collectively discuss current challenges.

Around 78 per cent of people aged 12 years or older in Canada have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, health officials said recently. About 44 per cent of people 12 years or older are fully vaccinated.

CANADA TO END CRUISE BAN IN NOVEMBER 

On Thursday, Canada said it will allow large cruise ships to visit once again starting in November as the COVID-19 pandemic fades, but they must fully comply with public health requirements.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the ban would “no longer be in effect if operators are able to fully comply with public health requirements”.

READ: Canada will not welcome unvaccinated tourists for some time: PM Trudeau

“We will welcome cruise ships – an important part of our tourism sector – back in Canadian waters for the 2022 season,” Alghabra said.

The announcement allows the cruise and travel industries to “prepare in earnest to welcome cruise ships in 2022, while conveying a positive message to cruise lines eager to resume itinerary planning activities”, said Quebec-based association Cruise the Saint Lawrence, which organises cruise development along nine ports of the Saint Lawrence River.

Canada has banned cruise ships for more than a year, and voted in February of this year to extend the ban until 2022.

The ban extended to cruise liners and other ships with a holding capacity of more than 100 passengers and crew.

Canada saw a steady decline in coronavirus-related deaths in recent months thanks to widespread availability of vaccines.

Around 15,000 members of the German emergency services, police and army were on the ground in the worst-hit areas.

Pensioner Annemarie Mueller, 65, looking out at her flooded garden and garage from her balcony, said her town of Mayen had been completely unprepared for the destruction.

“Where did all this rain come from? It’s crazy,” she told AFP, recalling the floodwater crashing through her street during the night.

“It made such a loud noise and given how fast it came down, we thought it would break the door down.”

North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) premier Armin Laschet, who is running to succeed Merkel in September elections, cancelled a party meeting in Bavaria to survey the damage in his state, Germany’s most populous.

“We will stand by the towns and people who’ve been affected,” Laschet, clad in rubber boots, told reporters in the town of Hagen.

He called for “speeding up” global efforts to fight climate change, underlining the link between global warming and extreme weather.

Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

‘GO TO HIGHER FLOORS’

The North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry tallied four more bodies recovered, taking the region’s toll to at least 31, while neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate said nine more deaths were likely in addition to 19 recovered in the region around the western town of Ahrweiler alone.

In the devastated Ahrweiler district around 1,300 people were unaccounted for, although local authorities said the high number was likely down to damaged phone networks.

NRW’s Euskirchen district reported 15 dead, while four more victims were found in the municipality of Schuld south of Bonn where six houses were swept away by floods.

Several other bodies were recovered from flooded cellars across the region.

The environment ministry in Rhineland-Palatinate warned it expected floodwaters on the Rhine and Moselle rivers to rise with more rainfall.

In NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate, about 200,000 households were without power.

Police set up a crisis hotline for reporting missing loved ones and residents were asked to send in videos and photos that could help them in the search.

Regional official Juergen Pfoehler in Ahrweiler urged people to stay home “and, if possible, go to higher floors” of their houses.

The German military deployed some 400 soldiers across the two affected states to assist in rescue efforts.

In the city of Leverkusen, a power outage triggered by the storms led to the evacuation of a hospital with 468 patients.

EVACUATION ORDERS

Belgium has also seen several days of heavy rain that has caused rivers in the French-speaking region of Wallonia to burst their banks. Four were reported dead.

The provinces of Liege and Namur were especially affected, with the resort town of Spa completely flooded.

Residents in Liege were told Thursday to urgently evacuate neighbourhoods near the banks of the Meuse river.

In the town of Chaudfontaine, daily Le Soir reported that nearly 1,800 people had to evacuate.

The country’s Infrabel rail network said it was suspending services in the southern half of the country, given the risks to travel.

 

 

The Meuse in Limburg was expected break its banks early on Friday, and to reach its highest level in 200 years, the ANP news agency reported.

Thousands of people were being urged to evacuate their homes, especially in provincial capital Maastricht.

Several municipalities in Limburg have already declared a state of emergency making evacuation compulsory.

The Luxembourg government set up a crisis cell to respond to emergencies triggered by heavy rains overnight as Prime Minister Xavier Bettel reported “several homes” had been flooded and were “no longer inhabitable”.