More countries secured deals for vaccines and started with vaccinations, as global shares and oil once again positively reacted to the U.S. $2.3 trillion pandemic relief stimulus package signed into law by President Donald Trump on Sunday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Belarus has begun administering the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, both countries said after the first consignment arrived in Minsk.
* Ireland may be able to provide a vaccine to everyone in the country who wants one by August in a “fairly positive scenario”, a senior official said.
* Britain must vaccinate 2 million people a week to avoid a third coronavirus wave, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has concluded.
* Germany’s vaccination campaign has been overshadowed by an overdose mishap in the north and problems with the transportation of the vaccine in the south which led to 1,000 shots being sent back.
* The distribution of an initial 200 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech across the European Union will be completed by September, a spokesman for the EU Commission said.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-134 to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said a vaccine would be available in the country within five days of being approved by federal health regulator Anvisa.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Indonesia is finalising deals to secure 50 million doses of vaccines from drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca, the new health minister said.
* The Philippines has approved a clinical trial for the vaccine of Johnson & Johnson’s unit Janssen, the head of its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
* Indian health authorities said they had found six people who had returned from Britain in recent weeks positive for the new more infectious variant of the coronavirus.
* Japan detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said.
* International visitors will be barred from entering Indonesia for a two-week period to try to keep out the potentially more contagious variant of the virus.
* South Korea, which saw a record daily death toll on Tuesday, unveiled a fresh 9.3 trillion won ($8.49 billion) package to support small businesses and those vulnerable to unemployment due to COVID-19.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Dubai is planning to inoculate 70% of its population with the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech by the end of 2021, a health official said.
* South Africa tightened COVID-19 restrictions, banning alcohol sales and extending a nationwide curfew, as infections shot through the one million mark owing to a faster-spreading variant of the disease discovered in the country.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Iran launched human trials of its first domestic COVID-19 vaccine candidate which Tehran says could help it defeat the pandemic despite U.S. sanctions interfering with its ability to import vaccines.
* Russia will begin trials of an antibody treatment for COVID-19 patients next year, according to the head of the Moscow institute that developed the country’s first vaccine against the disease, Sputnik V.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Global shares rose for the fourth straight day on Tuesday and oil followed suit as hopes of the fresh U.S. $2.3 trillion pandemic relief package stimulus teed up a strong end to the year for riskier assets. [MKTS/GLOB]
(Compiled by Veronica Snoj, Uttaresh.V, and Krishna Chandra Eluri; Editing by Maju Samuel, Anil D’Silva and Giles Elgood)
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