(Reuters) – The busiest land crossing from the United States to Canada remained shut on Tuesday after Canadian truckers blocked lanes on Monday to protest their government’s pandemic control measures.
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
* Italy’s government lifted an obligation to wear masks outdoors under most circumstances in response to an improving coronavirus situation, and said it aimed to raise attendance limits at stadiums.
* A quarter of British employers have cited long COVID as a main cause of long-term sickness absences, a survey by a professional body found, adding it raised questions over how workers with the condition were being supported in their jobs.
* Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he had tested positive for the coronavirus but was continuing to work remotely.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stands by its mask-wearing guidance for public K-12 schools with COVID-19 cases still high nationwide, even as some states plan to relax masking rules, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Reuters.
* Protests in Canada that have blocked a key bridge to the United States have broadened beyond their original focus on vaccine requirements, the White House said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Norway’s Heidi Weng will not travel to Beijing to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19 before the Games, the cross-country skier confirmed.
* Japan reported 159 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, a daily record, Kyodo news agency said.
* Hong Kong announced stringent new coronavirus restrictions and record new infections on Tuesday, while a shortage of vegetables added to the misery as truck drivers who tested positive for COVID-19 were unable to bring them from mainland China.
* Hundreds of people protesting vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions blocked streets outside New Zealand’s parliament with trucks and campervans, inspired by similar demonstrations in Canada.
* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended his government’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, saying they led to high economic growth and middling inflation, unlike the situation in some advanced economies.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* Uganda is preparing legislation to make COVID-19 jabs mandatory in a country with low levels of vaccination, a senior health official said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Johnson & Johnson quietly shut down the only plant making usable batches of its COVID-19 vaccine late last year.
* The European Union’s drug regulator launched a review to evaluate whether the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be used as a third booster shot in adolescents aged 12 to 15, even after several countries in the region have already started such a campaign.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Big Tech gave major U.S. stock indexes a boost and European shares ended largely unchanged as rising bond yields pressured technology stocks and a sharp fall in oil prices took the shine off bumper profits from oil company BP. [MKTS/GLOB]
(Compiled by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Anil D’Silva)
