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Factbox-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus – Metro US

Factbox-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

A woman reads as she waits to receive a COVID-19
A woman reads as she waits to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at London Bridge vaccination centre, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London

(Reuters) -Only about 2.8 million Americans had received a COVID-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the United States far short of the government’s target to vaccinate 20 million people this month.

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

* British doctors have said a government decision to delay giving a coronavirus vaccine booster shot to vulnerable patients who have already had a first dose will be distressing and disruptive, their trade union said.

* About 4,000 additional positive tests for COVID-19 in the last two to three days have yet to be formally confirmed in Ireland, meaning the situation is worse than recent record daily figures suggest, a senior health official.

* All travellers entering Norway will have to take a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arrival from Jan. 2, the country’s justice ministry said.

AMERICAS

* A Brazilian lab said it has detected two cases of the new coronavirus variant that has spread rapidly in Britain, and urged reinforcement of quarantine measures for travelers coming from Europe.

* New York City aims to vaccinate 1 million residents against the coronavirus by the end of January 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

* The leading U.S. infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he foresees America achieving enough collective COVID-19 immunity through vaccinations to regain “some semblance of normality” by autumn 2021.

* The COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and Oxford University was approved for use in El Salvador.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* China has detected its first imported case of the new coronavirus variant that is spreading rapidly around Britain, according to a publication run by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm.

* A province of islands in the southern Philippines will seal itself off for an initial two weeks from Monday to keep out a new COVID-19 variant found in nearby Malaysia.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Israel is carefully husbanding supplies as it races to vaccinate all vulnerable citizens by late January and push for an early exit from the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

* South Africa will have a firm date on when it will get COVID-19 vaccine in the first few days of January, a senior health ministry official told a television news channel.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* A vaccine developed by a unit of China National Biotec Group (CNBG) is 79.34% effective at protecting people from COVID-19 and the company has filed an application for regulatory approval in China for its general public use.

* A new variant of the novel coronavirus does not appear to cause more severe illness than other variants, according to a matched study by Public Health England.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* The S&P 500 reversed course and turned positive on Thursday and the dollar advanced as investors prepared to close the book on a turbulent year of pandemic, recession and recovery. [MKTS/GLOB]

(Compiled by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Uttaresh.V; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)