(Reuters) – Britain’s economic recovery almost ground to a halt in October as a surge in coronavirus cases hammered the hospitality sector, increasing the chances that the economy will shrink over the final three months of 2020.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser. * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said that documents related to the development of their COVID-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator.
* Coronavirus infections and related deaths in Germany are likely to rise further in the coming weeks, a senior health official at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI) said.
* Belarus will close its borders to its own citizens later this month, a move the country’s opposition leader likened to imprisoning the population in a Stalin-era prison camp.
AMERICAS
* The United States on Wednesday crossed an ominous new threshold of more than 3,250 lives lost to COVID-19 in a single day, while public health officials stepped up preparations for a vaccine campaign of historic scope ahead of final regulatory review.
* Canada approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said initial shots will be delivered and administered across the country starting next week.
* Brazil reported 53,453 more confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily rate since mid-August, and 836 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
* Mexico on Wednesday signed an agreement to buy 35 million doses of Chinese firm Cansino Biologics’ COVID-19 vaccine.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* A passenger who tested positive aboard a ‘cruise-to-nowhere’ from Singapore, forcing the ship to return to dock and nearly 1,700 guests to isolate, has been found not to have the virus, Singapore’s health ministry said.
* Japan said it will buy 10,500 deep freezers to store vaccines, as the capital Tokyo reported a record number of new cases.
* Indonesia has secured 155.5 million doses of vaccines and is seeking another 116 million through deals with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and global vaccine programme COVAX.
* South Korea scrambled to build hospital beds in shipping containers to ease strains on medical facilities stretched by the latest coronavirus wave.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Israel received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday and a distributor predicted the country would have enough for about a quarter of the population by the end of the year.
* Abu Dhabi will resume economic, tourist and entertainment activity within two weeks, while Oman said it will exempt nationals of 103 countries from needing an entry visa for a stay of up to 10 days.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Johnson & Johnson said it has cut enrolment for its pivotal vaccine trial to 40,000 volunteers from its original plan for 60,000, as higher rates of COVID-19 infections should generate the data it needs with fewer study subjects.
* Australian scientists said they had developed a rapid genome sequencing method that would cut to within four hours the time taken to trace the source of coronavirus cases.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Bets on more European Central Bank stimulus kept Europe’s main stock markets and the euro steady on Thursday but Britain’s pound saw its biggest drop in almost a month after overnight Brexit talks turned sour. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Oil rose above $49 a barrel as hopes of a faster demand recovery after the release of vaccines offset a huge rise in U.S. crude inventories that showed there was still ample supply available.
* Japan is likely to sell over $1 trillion of new government bonds this fiscal year to fund its huge stimulus packages, sources said, as the coronavirus crisis guts tax revenues and strains already tattered finances.
(Compiled by Jagoda Darlak and Ramakrishnan M.; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
