In this Dec 30, 2020 photo, a bottle of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on a table before being utilised in Topeka, USA. (PHOTO / AP)

BERLIN / LONDON / WASHINGTON / MADRID / LIMA / MEXICO CITY / PRAGUE / RIO DE JANEIRO / ADDIS ABABA / OTTAWA / BOGOTA / QUITO / DUBLIN / TIRANA / TEGUCIGALPA / BRUSSELS / RABAT / LA PAZ / SANTIAGO / STOCKHOLM / TUNIS / LOS ANGELES / PARIS / ROME / MOSCOW / LAGOS - Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine won the backing of the European Union drugs regulator, clearing the way for a second weapon in the bloc’s fight to stem the pandemic.

The recommendation was announced by the European Medicines Agency on Wednesday. The European Commission is working “at full speed” on the final clearance step, President Ursula Von Der Leyen said in a tweet.

EU leaders are facing growing pressure to speed up clearance and deployment of vaccines to tame a virus resurgence across the continent. The 27-nation bloc began immunizations last week with the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, but the pace of the rollout has been uneven, prompting unfavorable comparisons with the UK and US.

France had vaccinated fewer than 10,000 people so far, compared with more than 300,000 in Germany, heaping pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to accelerate the deployment. The US, by contrast, has immunized more than 5 million people, and Britain more than 1.3 million.

Moderna shares rose 2.6 percent before US exchanges opened. The vaccine was developed with the National Institutes of Health and is given in a two-dose regimen. Like the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, it’s based on messenger RNA technology that previously hadn’t been used in immunizations. The Moderna shot was cleared for emergency use by US regulators on Dec 18.

Global tally

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of new COVID-19 infections reported exceeded 4 million globally for a third week, while deaths rose 3 percent to 76,000. 

The Americas accounted for 47 percent of new cases and 42 percent of deaths last week, followed by Europe at 38 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 86.4 million while the global death toll toped 1.86 million.

ALSO READ: EU seeks up to 300 million more Pfizer-BioNTech doses

US

The number of COVID-19 infections in the United States may have been about four times of the figure officially reported, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

As of Nov 15, about 11 million COVID-19 cases were reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the study suggested the actual number of infections was about 46.9 million.

More than 14 percent of the US population were infected by mid-November, according to the study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.

The study also suggested that approximately 35 percent of COVID-19 deaths may not be reported

The study also suggested that approximately 35 percent of COVID-19 deaths may not be reported.

The number of cases could have been underreported as many people either did not seek medical care or were not tested, and therefore were not included in the official tallies, according the study.

To date, the US has reported over 21 million cases and more than 357,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Los Angeles health officials have told first responders to stop bringing adult patients who cannot be resuscitated to hospitals, citing a shortage of beds and staff. The order, issued late on Monday and effective immediately, marked an escalation of measures being taken by state and local officials nationwide in the face of alarming increases in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

Meanwhile, Republican Representative Kevin Brady said he tested positive for COVID-19 despite having received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec 18. Brady said he had tested negative for the virus as recently as the beginning of the month.

In another development, a large clinical trial has begun in the US to evaluate a combination investigational monoclonal antibody therapy for its safety and efficacy in people who have mild or moderate COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said..

The two experimental antibodies, BRII-196 and BRII-198, target SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. An independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board overseeing the trial will review the data collected at 28 days. 

In this photo provided by The Mendocino Voice, a healthcare worker directs people lining up to get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during an emergency vaccination drive at the Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Ukiah, California, the United States, on Jan 4, 2021. (JETHRO BOWERS / THE MENDOCINO VOICE VIA AP)

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s new governor is opening beaches and parks, rolling back a curfew and ending Sunday lockdowns to give hard-hit businesses some breathing room.

Governor Pedro Pierluisi, who took office on Saturday, said the new measures will be in effect for 30 days starting Friday. Even so, masks, social distancing and capacity restrictions at businesses remain in place across the US territory of 3.2 million people.

Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government pleaded for patience as it pushed back against criticism that Germany bungled the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A shortage of doses at the start of the campaign was expected and stems from production bottlenecks rather than insufficient procurement, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Wednesday in Berlin.

Germany’s daily COVID-19 deaths exceeded 1,000 for only the second time since the start of the pandemic, a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel extended a national lockdown until the end of the month and tightened some restrictions on movement.

There were 1,009 fatalities in the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, bringing the toll  to 36,757. The number of infections has doubled since the end of November to more than 1.8 million.

The new rules will restrict for the first time non-essential travel for residents of hard-hit areas all over Germany. They limit movement to a 15-kilometer radius in towns and districts where the number of new coronavirus cases is above 200 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period.

The rules also include the strictest limit on gatherings since the first lockdown in the spring, with members of any one household being allowed to meet only one other person.

Shops and restaurants will remain shut until the end of January. Schools are also to remain closed, with classes to be held online, until at least the end of the month.

“At the moment, we have reached a situation at some hospitals that is very, very much borderline,” Merkel said.

Meanwhile, travelers arriving in Germany from risk regions will have to test for the coronavirus twice, Merkel said after announcing the lockdown extension. Even if a first test was negative, travelers from risk regions would in future have to enter quarantine for five days and take a second test, she said. 

WHO

Experts advising the World Health Organization (WHO) on vaccine policies recommended against spreading the interval between two doses beyond 28 days, following a move by the United Kingdom to extend the period between shots to as much as 12 weeks in an effort to maximize coverage.

Countries facing “exceptional circumstances of vaccine supply constraints” can delay administration of the second dose of two-shot vaccines for a few weeks, according to a statement from Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, but data on safety and efficacy after only one dose is lacking.

UK

The UK's daily tally of coronavirus cases topped 60,000 for the first time on Tuesday, official figures showed, as the government said that one person in every 50 now has coronavirus in England.

According to the latest data, the UK recorded 60,916 new cases and a further 830 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the cumulative caseload to 2,774,479 and the death toll to 76,305.

More than 1.3 million people in the UK have been vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday

More than 1.3 million people in the UK have been vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, and he pledged to publish daily statistics on who is receiving shots in an effort to end England’s new lockdown.

Johnson has set a target of vaccinating roughly more than 13 million people by mid-February. If all goes smoothly, he has said that England can consider easing lockdown restrictions from that time.

PM Johnson’s “Herculean” target is achievable, Minister for COVID Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi said on Wednesday. He said that 1/4 of people over 80 years old had been vaccinated with their first shot.

READ MORE: Online COVID-19 vaccine scams surge as slow rollout frustrates

But five UK medical scientists have criticized the government’s plan to delay the second dose, saying proven dosing schedules should not be altered “without solid scientific support or evidence”. They also questioned the rationale behind prolonging the time between first and second doses.

UK health officials have warned that supply "delays" mean the COVID-19 vaccination program may not hit its target pace until the second half of this month, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, airlines flying into the UK will be required to bar passengers from boarding if they do not have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure, the Telegraph reported late in the day.

On the mutated strain of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa, UK scientists on Monday expressed concern that COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in Britain may not be able to protect against it.

Public Health England said there was currently no evidence to suggest COVID-19 vaccines would not protect against the mutated virus variants that were found in Britain and South Africa. 

Healthcare worker Sanna Elkadiri (left), the first Dutch recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot at a mass vaccination center in Veghel, Netherlands, on Jan 6, 2021. (PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / POOL VIA AP)

Netherlands

A Dutch nurse on Wednesday became the first person in the Netherlands to receive a COVID-19 shot as one of Europe’s last vaccination programmes for the new coronavirus got underway after a late start.

Sanna Elkadiri, a 39-year-old who cares for dementia patients at a care home in the east of the country, received a shot of the Pfizer vaccine on live television.

“This is the beginning of the end of this crisis,” said Health Minister Hugo de Jonge at a brief ceremony.

The Netherlands will start its vaccination program Wednesday, giving the first shot to a nursing home employee. 

The start was moved forward by two days, but the country is still the last European Union (EU) member to begin immunizations. 

Prime Minister Mark Rutte acknowledged his government should have been better prepared.

The country saw a decline in new cases in the past seven days, even as the number of deaths and of patients admitted to intensive care units climbed, health agency RIVM reported Tuesday. 

Overall, RIVM concluded that “convincing effects” of the latest lockdown have not yet been achieved.

Spain

Spain on Tuesday increased the pace of its campaign to inoculate people against COVID-19, with close to 140,000 people vaccinated, but only 18.7 percent of the doses received had been administered and disparities between regions remained.

Spain has administered 139,339 doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine so far out of the 743,925 distributed to the country’s 17 regions, Spain’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

It was a significant increase from the prior day when 82,834 people were inoculated, Health Minister Salvador Illa said late on Monday, stressing that the goal was to have between 15 million and 20 million Spaniards vaccinated by May or June.

Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 51,000 deaths and close to 2 million cases. The number of fatalities grew on Tuesday by 352 from Monday’s Health Ministry report, while the number of cases by 23,700 as some regions tightened their restrictions.

France

A third national lockdown to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic should not be ruled out in France, where new daily cases are picking up, but it is still too early to make that decision, a senior medical expert said on Wednesday.

France reported 20,489 newly conformed coronavirus infections on Tuesday, nearly double the 11,395 reported last week Tuesday and more than five times the 4,022 reported on Monday, which usually sees a drop in numbers due to weekend reporting lags.

The rolling seven-day moving average of cases rose to 15,171, the highest level since Nov 24 and the cumulative total rose to 2.68 million, the sixth-highest in the world, health ministry data showed.

The number of patients in hospital with the virus fell by 91 to 24,904. The number of people in intensive care also fell by 41 to 2,625 after a six-week downtrend stabilised over the weekend.

The death toll - which included 522 retirement home deaths over the past week - rose by 867 to 66,282, the seventh-highest in the world. 

Mexico

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday set out plans to vaccinate the country’s population and said the government hoped to inoculate the country’s elderly by the end of March.

So far, the country has administered jabs to about 44,000 healthcare workers using Pfizer’s vaccine, the only one available in the country so far, but authorities hope to ramp up vaccinations in coming weeks.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that Mexico’s health regulator Cofepris has approved the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.

Mexico expects to receive 1.4 million Pfizer vaccines that require two doses per person by the end of January, which should be enough to vaccinate most of the 750,000 frontline healthcare workers who are at the front of the queue.

Lopez Obrador said the plan to vaccinate older adults in remote areas will rely on vaccines from Chinese company CanSino Biologics, in part because it requires a single shot and is easy to store. 

Mexico’s vaccination drive would be carried out in 10,000 community centers serving small and remote towns and focusing on adults above 60 years of age. Medium sized towns and large cities would follow, Lopez Obrador said.

Later Tuesday, Mexico’s health ministry reported 11,271 new cases and 1,065 additional fatalities, bringing the total to 1,466,490 infections and 128,822 deaths. The latest daily toll was one of the highest since the start of the pandemic.

ALSO READ: Aiding the global COVID fight

Slovakia

Slovaks in the country’s central Nitra region would not be allowed to work unless they have tested negative for the coronavirus as the area’s main hospital was inundated with COVID patients and deaths were high, officials said on Tuesday.

The central European country of 5.5 million has seen record numbers of new cases and hospitalizations in the past days, with 3,146 people in hospitals as of Monday, despite a partial national lockdown.

People from the Nitra region of about 160,000 would not be allowed to attend work as of Monday without a negative test, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said at a televised news conference from the central Slovak city.

“The situation in Nitra is so dramatic that only voluntary testing would not be enough,” Matovic said. “This is a better way to protect workers, companies, the health of the people.”

Milan Dubaj, head of the Nitra University Hospital, said more than 10 people were dying in his COVID-19 ward every day, and called the situation “desperate”.

Slovakia has so far recorded around 2,600 deaths caused by COIVD-19, and over 600 more classified as “with COVID”.

Peru

Peru’s health minister said on Tuesday that “controversy” had arisen over a liability waiver in the country’s negotiations to obtain COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer.

Pilar Mazzetti told Congress that Peruvian officials had been in “constant contact” with Pfizer since July but that a dispute arose in their negotiations in December.

She said she could not give details because of a confidentiality agreement, but added that they related to “the waiving of important elements such as ... jurisdictional immunity.”

World Bank officials said on Tuesday they were working with countries to address the liability waiver issue which they said had emerged as one of the key obstacles to sealing vaccine supply deals.

Peru has also signed up to receive 13.2 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX facility. Mazzetti told Congress on Tuesday that the doses had previously been expected in July but the government had been “recently” told by COVAX to expect them “in the first three months of this year.”

Denmark

Denmark raised its COVID-19 alert level to the maximum and introduced fresh restrictions amid concerns over the more transmissible variant of the virus found in Britain.

The Nordic country’s alert level was moved up to five from four, signaling that contagion levels risk overwhelming the health service. While the number of new cases has fallen from its December peak, health officials say the presence of the British mutation on Danish territory could extend the state of emergency further.

Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that he was disappointed by some Canadian politicians who travelled abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic despite government calls to avoid all non-essential travel.

It is key that Canadians feel as if they are all in the COVID-19 fight together and seeing these political leaders and public officials acting against public health guidance is detrimental to the overall effort to get the virus' spread under control nationwide, Trudeau said at his first 2021 press conference in Ottawa.

READ MORE: Vacations abroad cost Canadian politicians' jobs amid virus curbs

Meanwhile, Trudeau said that he was worried about the slow pace of the vaccine rollout in the country.

Canada has received more than 424,050 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but only 35 percent of those doses have been administered by the provinces, with roughly 148,000 Canadians having received a shot so far.

Canada has reported a total of 618,218 COVID-19 cases and 16,225 deaths as of Tuesday evening, according to CTV. 

Colombia

Colombia registered a record 16,835 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,702,966, health authorities said Tuesday.

The country also reported 241 more deaths, raising the death toll to 44,426, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said in an update, adding that 1,559,010 patients have so far recovered.

Brazil

Brazil again saw more than 1,000 deaths related to COVID-19, recording 1,171 fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the overall toll to 197,732, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, tests detected 56,648 new infections in the same period, bringing the cumulative caseload to 7,810,400.

The daily toll was the second highest since Dec 30 when 1,194 fatalities were recorded in a day.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, is the epicenter of the national outbreak with 1,486,551 cases and 47,222 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 443,607 cases and 25,837 deaths.

Also on Tuesday, Manaus, capital of northern Amazonas state, decreed a 180-day state of emergency as the occupancy rate of hospital beds available for treating COVID-19 patients has reached 100 percent.

Nurses prepare syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Ange-Raymond Gilles care home in Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, near Liege, Belgium, Jan 5, 2021. (VALENTIN BIANCHI / AP)

Belgium

A large-scale vaccination against COVID-19 began Tuesday in Belgium, involving a total of 154 nursing homes in three regions throughout the country in the first phase of rollout.

Residents of nursing homes were among the priority groups to receive the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The second dose will be given three week later. 

Belgium will require 87,000 doses of the vaccine each week to complete this vaccination phase, which covers around 200,000 people.

The European country has so far recorded a total of 650,887 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 19,750 deaths.

Eritrea

The number of COVID-19 cases in Eritrea rose to 1,445 after the Red Sea nation recorded 82 new cases over past 24 hours, the Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The ministry said 46 more recoveries were reported, pushing the total number of recoveries to 740.

The country has so far recorded three COVID-19-related deaths.

Ecuador

Ecuador on Tuesday reported that the country has recorded a total of 216,083 COVID-19 cases and 9,530 deaths.

According to the Ministry of Public health, Ecuador registered 1,003 new cases and 25 more deaths in the past 24 hours.

President Lenin Moreno said he was confident the COVID-19 vaccination campaign due this month would ease the outbreak.

Meanwhile, with cases still on the rise, Mayor of Quito Jorge Yunda ruled out easing restrictions that limit the use of vehicles based on the number of their license plates. The preventive measure, however, has led to increased ridership on public transit, with subsequent crowding posing transmission risks.

To tackle the problem, Yunda said he will strengthen the transportation system in the city, where residents are only allowed to leave their homes for medical appointments, trips to the airport or other essential reasons.

Bolivia

Bolivian President Luis Arce on Tuesday guaranteed the availability of financial resources needed to carry out the government's Strategic Plan to Fight COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports.

His government has earmarked more than 274 million bolivianos (about US$39 million) for regional governments to immediately begin hiring healthcare workers, he added.

Regional governments will be in charge of distributing vaccines against COVID-19 purchased by the central government, while municipal governments will be in charge of undertaking the diagnostic tests, according to the plan.

As of Monday, Bolivia has reported a total of 163,671 confirmed cases and 9,219 deaths.

Argentina

Argentina will step up measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus during the austral summer vacation season, Minister of Tourism and Sports Matias Lammens said Tuesday.

The government will "reinforce its presence" and apply "specific restrictions for specific situations," because relying on individual responsibility was not enough, the minister said in a televised broadcast.

"The state is going to have to more vehemently keep an eye on these types of situations," added Lammens, referring to crowds and gatherings at tourism resorts.

Sweden

A state epidemiologist in Sweden on Tuesday warned of a spike in COVID-19 infection rates as the winter break comes to an end.

"We are facing a potentially serious situation next week when more people are due to return to their workplaces," state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said a news conference on Tuesday.

Tegnell said that workplaces are a major source of infection and urged employers to allow staff members to work remotely as far as possible.

While the number of infections is currently going down in the capital city of Stockholm, other regions, especially in the south and on the west coast, are seeing a rise in cases and the pressure on the health care system is still high.

Meanwhile, Sweden has  registered 13 cases of the the new UK variant and one case of the South Africa variant.

According to statistics from the Public Health Agency, Sweden has so far confirmed nearly 470,000 COVID-19 cases with nearly 9,000 deaths.

ALSO READ: Poll: Swedish PM's popularity drops after he ignored virus curbs

Ireland

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ireland has exceeded 110,000 after another 5,325 cases and 17 COVID-19-related deaths were reported on Tuesday.

The tally now stands at 113,322 while the death toll stands at 2,282, according to the Irish Department of Health.

Local media RTE quoted public health officials as saying that the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized is likely to surpass the peak during the first wave peak by the end of this week.

The highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ireland was recorded at 881 in mid-April 2020, according to the RTE report.

The closure of construction sites and manufacturing operations is “on the agenda” for a decision by the government in coming days, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said in an interview with RTE.

Schools may also stay closed in January, as new infections hit records after spiraling out of control over the past month, he said. 

Martin said curbs are likely to remain in place until a substantial share of the population is vaccinated. Some 35,000 vaccinations will be given this month, he said.

Chile

Chile registered 2,457 new COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

The daily figures brought the tally to 623,101 and death toll to 16,788.

The ministry said that 589,081 patients had recovered from the disease, while there were 16,885 active cases.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health on Tuesday said that the country's tally has risen to 126,241 after 322 new cases were reported.

The death toll rose by 13 to 1,963, the ministry said, adding that the number of recoveries increased by 203 to 112,813.

It also said that there were some 11,463 active cases, of which 245 were said to be in severe condition.

Tunisia

Tunisia's Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 2,265 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 147,061.

The death toll rose by 72 to 4,934, the ministry said in a statement.

Albania

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Albania surpassed 60,000 on Tuesday as 660 new infections were reported.

The Health Ministry said that the country's infection tally has risen to 60,283.

Another 11 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,210.

Morocco

Morocco on Tuesday reported 1,637 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 445,439.

The number of recoveries rose by 1,736 to 416,708, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The death toll climbed by 43 to 7,581, the ministry said, adding that there were 1,139 people re in intensive care units.

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent reached 2,854,971 as of Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The death toll stodd at 67,986, it added.

Honduras

The Honduran government announced Tuesday 4,000 health workers have been mobilized to help in the fight against COVID-19 in densely populated areas.

They will be part of a national program inaugurated Tuesday by President Juan Orlando Hernandez at a military facility in the capital Tegucigalpa.

The medical brigades, joined by personnel from the fire department and the army, will detect infections through early testing and provide treatment, said the president.

Honduras has recorded a total of 123,398 COVID-19 cases with 3,181 deaths, according to the health ministry.

Hospitalizations rose by more than 80 percent, particularly after the holiday season when Hondurans went out without restrictions, said the ministry.  

South Africa

South African government officials have called for stricter measures to curb soaring coronavirus infections at a meeting to discuss the state’s response to the pandemic, according to two people familiar with the matter.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is hosting a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Wednesday to assess the spread of the disease.

With the number of infections now over 1 million and more than 30,000 people having died from the disease, Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Police Minister Bheki Cele have recommended the country move to virus alert level 4 for 30 days, the people said. They asked not to be identified as no decision has been taken.

Other officials concerned about the impact harsher restrictions might have on the economy called for the relaxation of measures including the ban on alcohol sales and the closing of the nation’s beaches, the people said.

The government announced on Dec 28 it was moving the country to virus alert level 3 from level 1, banning alcohol sales and extending a nationwide curfew to slow the spread of the pandemic.

South Africa’s hope of securing an order of 1.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine from an Indian company may have been thwarted by a ban on exports imposed by the South Asian country, Business Day reported, citing unidentified people. 

As of Monday, South Africa was confident it had secured the order from the Serum Institute of India Ltd, which is making the vaccine under license, the Johannesburg-based newspaper reported. Talks are now being held directly with India’s government, two people familiar with the situation said, according to the newspaper.

Italy

Italy is considering extending until July 31 this year its state of emergency over the COVID-19 crisis, Il Messaggeroa national newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The emergency, set to expire at the end of January, gives the government greater powers, allowing officials to more easily bypass the bureaucracy that stifles decision-making in Italy.

Meanwhile, Italy will invest in local biotech company ReiThera to support the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, a senior official said on Tuesday after the government called results of a Phase 1 trial encouraging.

An initial trial involved 45 volunteers aged between 18 and 55. None of them showed serious side effects in the 28 days after the vaccination, said Giuseppe Ippolito, scientific director of Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani institute which conducted the tests.

“Some 92.5 percent of volunteers had detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies,” he said, adding that trials were scheduled to conclude by the summer.

Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s COVID-19 emergency commissioner, said the government would invest in ReiThera to support the research and eventually provide Italy with some independence in vaccine procurement.

Russia

Russia recorded 24,217 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country's COVID-19 response center said Wednesday.

The national tally has increased to 3,308,601, including 59,951 deaths and 2,685,723 recoveries, the center said.

Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 5,142 new cases over the past day, taking the city's caseload to 838,554.

Nigeria

Nigeria expects to get 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines soon to cover one-fifth of its population in partnership with the global COVAX scheme, a senior health official has said.

Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said that the initial doses would come as part of Nigeria's plan to inoculate 40 percent of the population in 2021, and another 30 percent in 2022.

Nigeria will first inoculate frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to the virus and the elderly, Shuaib said.

On Tuesday night, Nigeria reported 1,354 new cases, its highest single-day jump, bringing the cumulative caseload to 92,705.

The country has so far reported 1,319 deaths related to COVID-19 while a total of 76,396 patients have recovered.

Namibia

The emergence of new COVID-19 variants and the higher speed of transmission in some countries is very worrying, Namibia's Health Minister, Kalumbi Shangula said Wednesday.

Shangula said this during a daily COVID-19 update, as the country recorded 432 new COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths in 24 hours, bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 26,319, while deaths stood at 235.