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World News
Reuters staff
(Reuters) – Singapore confirmed its first case of the new variant of the coronavirus found in Britain, while Irish health chiefs said the mutation was present in Ireland, although it was not solely responsible for the rapid spread of the disease.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Britain’s Transport Minister said he had ordered flights and arrivals from South Africa to be stopped after a potentially more infectious variant of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 had spread to Britain.
* Spain will receive 350,000 weekly doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine starting on Saturday, said Health Minister Salvador Illa.
* Irish health chiefs believe that a new variant of COVID-19 found in neighboring Britain is present in Ireland, but it is not solely responsible for the rapid spread of the disease.
* Around 500 family members of people who died of COVID-19 in Italy said they were taking legal action against regional and national authorities, seeking 100 million euros ($ 122 million) in damages.
AMERICAS
* Millions of COVID-19 vaccines are unused in US hospitals and elsewhere a week after the mass inoculation campaign, casting doubt on the government’s goal of 20 million vaccines this month.
* Merck & Co said it would supply about 60,000-100,000 doses of its experimental COVID-19 treatment to the United States government for up to $ 356 million.
* Canada approved Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine, the second country to do so, paving the way for health authorities to step up a vaccination campaign against a worsening second wave.
* Mexico plans to begin inoculating health workers against COVID-19 on Thursday with the arrival of the first vaccines.
* Argentina granted emergency approval for the use of Russia’s Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry said.
* The first batch of doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Costa Rica on Wednesday night, and inoculations will begin on Thursday, President Carlos Alvarado said at a press conference.
PACIFIC ASIA
* Singapore confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus variant found in the UK, while 11 others already in quarantine had yielded preliminary positive results for the new strain.
* South Korea has signed agreements with Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen to ensure coronavirus vaccines for 10 million and 6 million people, respectively.
* Aurobindo Pharma Ltd said it would manufacture and sell the US-based COVAXX COVID-19 candidate vaccine for supply in India and to the United Nations Children’s Fund under a licensing agreement.
* Taiwan’s tourism department canceled an annual New Year’s Eve celebration in the far northeast of the island on Wednesday, following a report of the first COVID-19 case broadcast locally since April 12.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Israel has detected four cases of the new highly infectious variant that has emerged in Britain.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Moderna Inc expects the immunity induced by its COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the coronavirus variants reported in the UK.
* Altimmune Inc said that the US Food and Drug Administration had clinically suspended its application to begin human testing of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, AdCOVID.
* Brazilian researchers said that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech of China is more than 50% effective according to preliminary data, but they withheld the full results of their late-stage trial again at Sinovac’s request.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian stocks and the British pound rose on Thursday before the Christmas holidays, as Britain and the European Union approached a free trade agreement and investors gambled on the prospects for a global economic recovery.
