BERLIN (AP) — Germany's ruling parties are hitting the brakes on plans for compulsory coronavirus vaccinations, saying it may take months for lawmakers to properly debate the contentious measure in parliament.

Berlin daily Tagesspiegel on Sunday quoted Dirk Wiese, a deputy parliamentary caucus leader for the Social Democrats, as saying the Bundestag should aim to complete its deliberations on the vaccine mandate during the first quarter of 2022.

Green party caucus leader Britta Hasselmann told the Funke media group that the first debate could take place in late January.

With few parliamentary sessions in February, this could mean the lower house won't pass a bill before the end of March. The Bundesrat, Germany's upper chamber, would then take up the matter in April, meaning the earliest it could come into force would be a month later.

Tagesspiegel reported that implementation could be delayed until June to ensure the technical conditions, such as a nationwide vaccine register, are in place.

Among those who oppose a vaccine mandate are some members of the Free Democrats, who are part of the ruling coalition, and Germany's former health minister who pledged last summer not to introduce a general vaccine mandate. Political leaders have agreed to let lawmakers vote according to their own conscience rather than along party lines on the issue.

The looming mandate has also been a rallying point for vocal anti-vaccine campaigners who have taken part in protests against Germany's pandemic restrictions. Some recent demonstrations have turned violent, with protesters attacking police officers after being ordered to disperse.

Almost 72% of Germans are considered “fully vaccinated,” while 42.3 % have received an additional booster shot.

Germany's disease control agency reported 36,552 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and 77 deaths.

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BEIJING (AP) — The numbers are small, but the major port of Tianjin may be facing China's first outbreak of omicron of any size, less than four weeks before the Winter Olympics open in nearby Beijing.

The city began mass testing of its 14 million residents on Sunday after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the omicron variant. Officials said the virus has been circulating so the number of cases could grow.

China has stepped up its strict zero tolerance strategy in the run-up to the Olympics, which open Feb. 4. The Chinese capital is 115 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Tianjin and many people regularly travel back and forth by car or on a high-speed rail link that takes less than one hour.

Elsewhere, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi’an and Yuzhou, two cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks. Both have been traced to the delta variant. The outbreak in Yuzhou is also affecting Zhengzhou, the Henan provincial capital 70 kilometers (40 miles) to the north. Zhengzhou has been conducting mass testing and is closing schools starting Monday.

The first two cases confirmed in Tianjin were a 10-year-old girl and a 29-year-old woman working at the after-school center. Both were infected by the omicron variant. In subsequent testing of close contacts, 18 others tested positive and 767 tested negative as of Saturday night.

Those infected include 15 students from 8 to 13 years old, the after-school center staff member and four parents. The citywide testing is to be completed over two days. Tianjin has also closed some subway stations on two lines to try to prevent further spread.

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SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's New South Wales state reported 16 deaths on Sunday in its deadliest day of the pandemic, even as it relaxed rules to allow some essential workers in isolation to return to work if they are asymptomatic.

Just over 30,000 new cases were reported in Australia's most populous state, forcing those people to join more than 200,000 others in isolation.

No statistics are kept to determine how many of those are essential workers in the food and manufacturing sectors. But some employers say up to half of their workers have been furloughed after coming into contact with a positive case.

Shoppers have reported empty shelves in many supermarkets because of the omicron outbreak's impact on food processing and supply chains.

"Critical workers in the food logistics and manufacturing sectors furloughed as close contacts will be permitted to leave self-isolation to attend work if they have no symptoms of COVID-19, to ensure the state has continued access to essential goods," New South Wales Health said in a statement on Sunday.

The workers can only leave self-isolation if their employer decides their absence poses a high risk of disruption to the delivery of critical services and if they are not able to work from home.

Returning workers will have to wear masks and comply with risk-management strategies required by their employers, including daily rapid antigen tests. If they test positive, they will have to return to isolation.

The rule change applies in agriculture to bio-security and food safety personnel undertaking critical duties; in manufacturing to the production of food, beverages, groceries, cleaning and sanitary products; and in transport to food logistics and delivery.

The 16 people who died Sunday included eight women and eight men aged in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, NSW Health said. The figure tops the previous record of 15 deaths, which has been reached twice, on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 last year.

There were 1,927 people in hospitals, including 151 people in intensive care.

Victoria state reported 44,155 new cases on Sunday, including 22,051 from rapid antigen tests and 22,104 from PCR tests. Of those cases, 9,000 were from rapid antigen tests conducted on Saturday while more than 13,000 were done on previous days and reported Sunday.

The numbers do not necessarily reflect the true spread of the virus as they only count the number of recorded cases.

Screening carried out by health authorities showed that around 80% of new cases were the omicron variant.

Victoria recorded eight deaths on Sunday, but Australia Health Minister Greg Hunt said cases of severe illness are relatively low amid the spread of omicron.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. company Moderna donated 2.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Mexico Saturday as the country's official death toll topped 300,000.

Mexico passed 300,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths this week, but so little testing is done in the country that a government review of death certificates puts to real toll at almost 460,000.

Mexican officials welcomed the arrival of the shipment at the airport in Toluca, just west of Mexico City, and said the vaccines will be used to inoculate teachers.

Teachers in Mexico were second after only health care workers to be vaccinated in the spring.

In April and May, over 2.7 million teachers got initial shots. But most of them got the single-dose Chinese Cansino vaccine, whose effectiveness appears to decline over time.

Mexico has now obtained over 200 million doses of vaccines, and has been trying to reopen in-person learning at all levels.

Education Secretary Delfina Gómez said, "We are grateful to recieve this donation, which will undoubtedly help more boys, girls and youths to come to classrooms with greater safety and confidence."

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HONG KONG (AP) — One of two people who attended a large gathering with senior Hong Kong officials and was believed to be infected with COVID-19 turned out to be a false positive, meaning about 80 of more than 180 attendees may no longer face a lengthy quarantine.

The birthday party at a restaurant on Monday evening has roiled officialdom, drawing a rebuke from city leader Carrie Lam who criticized about a dozen officials including the police chief and the home affairs secretary for setting a bad example as Hong Kong tries to limit the spread of the omicron variant.

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung told reporters Saturday that a woman at the party who was a preliminary positive case tested negative in two subsequent tests and had no symptoms. He said the swab used for the initial test, which was conducted by a doctor who is the woman's husband, may have been contaminated because he had vaccinated 13 other patients earlier.

Another guest who arrived at the party around 9:30 p.m. is a confirmed case, so about 100 people who were still at the restaurant face 21 days' quarantine, according to Hong Kong media reports. About 80 who left earlier will be spared, the South China Morning Post newspaper said.

More than 180 people were at the party, Hong Kong Health Secretary Sophia Chan said Saturday, up from an estimate of 170 the previous day. Health officials had said Friday that all would be quarantined if the woman, who was at the party earlier in the evening, was confirmed to be infected.

Officials issued a stream of apologies in what appeared to be boilerplate statements late Friday and Saturday. They included Police Commissioner Siu Chak-yee, Financial Services Secretary Christopher Hui, Immigration Director Au Ka-wang, Corruption Commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu and Undersecretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Clement Woo. Their statements apologized for the additional burden put on anti-epidemic work by the incident.