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Friday, February 19, 2021, 22:48
African Union secures 300m doses of Sputnik V shot
By Agencies
Friday, February 19, 2021, 22:48 By Agencies

Boxes of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in a freezer at a health clinic in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb 18, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

JOHANNESBURG / LONDON / PARIS / WARSAW / MEXICO CITY / BOGOTA / VATICAN CITY / BERLIN / ADDIS ABABA / DAKAR / QUITO / HAVANA / TIRANA / RABAT / ALGIERS / ATHENS / HARARE / BUDAPEST / MOSCOW - The African Union has secured 300 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

The shots will be available for 12 months starting in May, the AU said in a statement on Friday. Finance has been arranged for countries that want to purchase the vaccine.

The deal adds to the 270 million doses the AU has arranged to get from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc.

Africa’s reported COVID-19 death toll surpassed 100,000 on Friday, a fraction of those reported on other continents but rising fast as a second wave of infections overwhelms hospitals.

Nearly 3.8 million COVID-19 infections have been reported on the continent, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The WHO has mobilized financial resources and technical expertise to boost the war against Ebola and COVID-19 in Africa amid threat to the continent's public health system, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa.

COVID-19 deaths are rising sharply across Africa, driven by its southern region, especially economic powerhouse South Africa, which accounts for nearly half. South Africa was ravaged by a second wave caused by a more contagious variant that has jammed up casualty wards.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it had submitted data to the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use listing of its COVID-19 vaccine, which would allow for wider access of the one-dose shot.

J&J said an emergency use listing is a prerequisite for supplying vaccines to the COVAX vaccine program, co-led by WHO, which aims to deliver doses to poor and middle-income countries.

The J&J vaccine is administered in a single dose and can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, a big selling point in countries with relatively weaker healthcare infrastructure.

The vaccine is under review by the US health regulator, and a panel of the Food and Drug Administration’s experts are expected to discuss the vaccine’s emergency use authorization next week.

The vaccine is being rolled out in South Africa, for the first time outside a major clinical trial.

In this Feb 11, 2021 file photo, a health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a vaccination center set up in Fiumicino, near Rome's international airport. (ALESSANDRA TARANTINO / AP)

AstraZeneca

Health authorities in some European countries are facing resistance to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after side-effects led hospital staff and other frontline workers to call in sick, putting extra strain on already-stretched services.

Such symptoms, as reported in clinical trials for the AstraZeneca shot, can include a high temperature or headache and are a normal sign that the body is generating an immune response. They usually fade within a day or so.

The other shots approved in Europe, developed by Pfizer and Moderna, have been linked to similar temporary side-effects, including fever and fatigue.

But with the AstraZeneca shot the latest to be rolled out, health authorities in France have issued guidance to stagger giving the shot, two regions in Sweden paused vaccinations, and in Germany some essential workers are refusing it.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said: “Currently, the reactions reported are as we would expect based on the evidence gathered from our clinical trial program.”

People receiving the vaccine are closely monitored through routine pharmacovigilance activities, the Anglo-Swedish drug maker said, adding that it was continuing to keep a close eye on the situation.

“There have been no confirmed serious adverse events,” the spokesman said.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 110.3 million while the global death toll topped 2.44 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Novavax

Novavax will supply 1.1 billion doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to COVAX, a global alliance many low and middle-income countries are relying on to protect their populations from the virus.

The COVAX Facility, an effort led by the World Health Organization, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Novavax, along with its manufacturing and distribution partner the Serum Institute of India, announced the commitment in a statement on Thursday. 

Novavax and Gavi haven’t yet finalized the advanced purchase agreement for supply of the two-shot regimen.

A senior receives his second dose of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine during a priority vaccination program for the elderly at the Bezerra de Menezes Asylum in Brasilia, Brazil, Feb 18, 2021. (ERALDO PERES / AP)

Brazil

Brazil became the third country in the world to breach 10 million coronavirus cases, with infections picking up speed in recent weeks as a new variant spreads amid a shortage of vaccines.

Latin America’s largest nation reported 51,879 new cases Thursday, pushing the total confirmed to 10,030,626, according to data from the health ministry. Deaths rose by 1,367 to 243,457, the second-highest globally.

While encouraging signs in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic are emerging globally, Brazil is battling a resurgence of the virus, which has been made worse by year-end gatherings and a new strain found in the Northern city of Manaus. For most of this year, the country has reported over 50,000 new infections a day, about double the rate for October and November. Deaths have hovered above 1,000 a day.

At least 12 Brazilian states are reporting higher numbers of cases and deaths than in the first wave of the pandemic, according to Domingos Alves, a professor of medicine who’s part of the COVID-19 Brasil monitoring group.

The country was expected to do better vaccinating than it did containing the disease. But the country was late to start, kicking off its campaign in mid-January with just 6 million shots on hand after approving formulations from Sinovac and AstraZeneca. 

A month later, nine capitals including Rio de Janeiro have suspended immunizations after shots ran out. As of Wednesday, about 5.9 million doses had been administered, according to states’ data compiled by Bloomberg. The federal government doesn’t have a national count.

Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello pledged to deliver over 454.9 million doses to states by year-end in a meeting with governors Wednesday. The count includes shots that haven’t been cleared for use by the local regulator, and that the government has yet to buy.

Nigeria

Nigerian regulators approved the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in the West African nation.

“The Serum Institute of India Ltd. on Feb. 10 submitted a dossier on the Covishield vaccine, which it is producing under license from AstraZeneca, and it was found to be safe and well-tolerated in adults above 18 years of age, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said in a statement on Thursday.

The shot was also found to be effective against a COVID-19 variant that was first identified in the UK and has been detected in Nigeria, Lagos-based Channels television cited Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency’s director-general, as saying. Three other vaccines and more than 30 herbal medicines are undergoing evaluation, she said.

The Nigerian government expects the first vaccines to arrive this month, and health workers, top government officials and vulnerable people will be first in line to get them.

Tracing technology will be used to monitor vaccine distribution to prevent diversion and the infiltration of fake shots into the supply chain, according to the regulator.

UK

Another 12,057 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,083,242, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 454 deaths, bringing the toll to 119,387. 

According to the latest data, more than 16.4 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine. 

Earlier Thursday, a study showed that the number of people infected with coronavirus in England has dropped by more than two thirds since January, but infections still remain high.

ALSO READ: Virus: Encouraging vaccine data emerges from UK, Israel

A healthcare worker receives a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Klerksdorp, South Africa, Feb 18, 2021. (SHIRAAZ MOHAMED / AP)

South Africa

A top coronavirus adviser to South Africa’s government expects a slower vaccine roll-out than what has been officially mapped out.

The start of the program was delayed this month after studies showed AstraZeneca Plc’s shot, the first to arrive in South Africa, provided little protection against mild forms of the disease caused by a variant of the virus identified late last year.

The government is targeting inoculating about 67 percent of South Africa’s population this year in a phased program that aims to achieve herd immunity. That time-line may be too ambitious, said Salim Abdool Karim, who co-chairs the health minister’s ministerial advisory committee on COVID-19.

Instead, South Africa should aim to complete the first two phases, which would cover about 43 percent of almost 40 million people it plans to vaccinate this year, he said in an interview.

According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the latest findings from a Pfizer study showing that the Pfizer-BioNTech shot stimulated roughly two-thirds lower levels of neutralizing antibodies against the South African variant of the coronavirus shouldn’t stand in the way of South Africa using the Pfizer shots, . 

“What we are seeing based on the studies is not huge changes in neutralizing the antibodies of this virus,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said Thursday in an online briefing.

Scientists will meet on Thursday to advise South Africa’s government on its next steps following the release of the findings from the study.

South Africa has recorded more than 1.49 million coronavirus cases and 48,708 deaths, according to the health ministry.

ALSO READ: Virus: AstraZeneca doses go unused in Germany

G7

Britain will challenge fellow G7 countries to help speed up the development of future vaccines to 100-days on Friday when Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts a virtual meeting of leaders.

Johnson also plans to announce that the UK will donate surplus coronavirus vaccines to developing countries, joining a similar commitment by President Emmanuel Macron to boost the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “majority” of any future UK surplus coronavirus vaccines will be shared with the WHO-backed COVAX program, Johnson’s office said late Thursday in a statement. That’s on top of the 548 million pounds (US$766 million) the country has already donated to the program, which is aimed at supplying some of the world’s poorest nations with inoculations.

Johnson’s Britain holds the presidency of the Group of Seven developed economies in 2021 and wants to use it to build momentum for a more coordinated approach to future pandemics, including the creation of a global health treaty.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden's administration will pledge US$4 billion to COVAX, the global effort to fund vaccinations in lower-income countries, at the meeting in hopes of prying loose bigger donations from other governments, US officials said on Thursday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also use the call on Friday to announce a doubling of the European Union’s cash commitment for COVAX, according to an EU official familiar with the matter, bringing the bloc’s contribution to the vaccine supplier for poorer nations to 1 billion euros (US$1.2 billion).

France

The French government said on Friday it will send more medical staff to Reunion island in the Pacific Ocean as part of efforts to rein in COVID-19 variants spreading in the overseas territory.

The government also said in a statement it would extend curfew measures to other parts of the island. 

France will not let its guard down against the coronavirus pandemic, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday, as more infectious virus strains continue to circulate and risk to overwhelm hospitals.

Relaxing rules now is taking the risk to implement tougher restrictions in the near future, to take the risk of having held together for so long time in vain," Veran said. "Our efforts have paid off but the game is not won yet."

The French health ministry reported 22,501 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the cumulative caseload to 3.54 million.

It also reported 271 additional coronavirus deaths over the previous 24 hours, lifting the toll to 83,393.

France has administered about 3.51 million COVID-19 vaccination shots since the start of its vaccination campaign, the health ministry said on Thursday. 

France is committing to donate 5 percent of its secured COVID-19 vaccine supplies to poorer countries through the COVAX program. A multilateral approach via COVAX is the most efficient way to show solidarity, a French official who asked not to be named in line with protocol, said Thursday.

Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that the country’s health care system will withstand pressure from a rising third COVID-19 wave and ramp up inoculations with new vaccine shipments.

With hospitalizations related to COVID-19 on a steady increase, the country is at a dangerous juncture in the race to make sure inoculations outpace infections, the premier told state radio in an interview. 

As large Chinese and Russian vaccine shipments join Western drugs to help the vaccination effort, Budapest expects to inoculate 1.2 million of its 10 million citizens by early March and 2.5 million by early April, Orban told public radio.

“We are in a moment of danger,” Orban said. With vaccinations and infections “racing along”, he urged citizens to register for vaccinations.

Hospital capacity remains ample, Orban said.

Hungary on Thursday registered 2,853 fresh COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 394,023 cases, according to the government's coronavirus information website. Deaths rose by 104 to 14,035. 

US

Life expectancy in the United States plummeted by an entire year in the first half of 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest decline since World War II, according to a study on Thursday.

Preliminary data from January through June 2020 showed that life expectancy at birth for the total US population fell from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.8 years, the lowest since 2006, according to the study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.

A total of 530,000 to 559,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported in the US by March 13, according to the CDC's latest projections.

According to the lastest forecast, 8,400 to 18,500 new deaths will likely be reported in the week ending March 13.

The US has so far reported over 27.89 million confirmed cases and more than 493,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

READ MORE: Cuomo on backfoot over cover-up claims

The US reiterated that food and food packaging are highly unlikely sources of coronavirus transmission, with the Food and Drug Administration saying there is “no credible evidence” to support a link.

A doctor (center) describes possible vaccine side effects to be aware of, after vaccinating three elderly residents of an extended household in the Cuajimalpa borough on the outskirts of Mexico City, Feb 18, 2021. (REBECCA BLACKWELL / AP)

Mexico

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday he had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who confirmed to him that Mexico would be sent its first shipment of Sputnik V vaccines against COVID-19 this weekend.

Separately, Mexico issued a warning on the alleged illegal application of Pfizer’s vaccine in the state of Nuevo Leon, according to health agency Cofepris.

Th vaccine has not been authorized for sale to the private sector, so any substance acquired through an intermediary is false, it said.

Mexico’s health ministry on Thursday reported 9,099 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 1,047 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 2,022,662 cases and 178,108 deaths.

Kenya

Kenyan regulators approved AstraZeneca's vaccine for use in the East African nation, the Daily Nation reported. 

Kenya will start receiving the doses next week and start its inoculation program in March, the Nairobi-based newspaper reported, citing Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi. 

It’s procuring the vaccine despite concerns about its limited efficacy against mild to moderate illness caused by a variant identified in South Africa.

Canada

Canada has begun to accelerate its vaccine rollout after delivery disruptions became a major political headache for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In an update by public-health officials Thursday, the government announced the pace of deliveries of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots is ramping up as of this week.

As many as 14.5 million of Canada’s 38 million people should be inoculated by the end of June, according to an updated timeline, up from the 13 million the government expected previously.

Poland

The Polish government expects the number of new COVID-19 cases to stay above 10,000 after latest data showed a rise in infections on Thursday.

In the past 24 hours,  authorities confirmed 9,073 new COVID-19 infections. The day before, 8,694 new cases were reported. 

As of Thursday, 1,614,446 people in Poland have been infected and 41,582 have died since the start of the pandemic. 

The health ministry said that 12,188 coronavirus patients were hospitalized, including 1,295 on ventilators.

More than 2.3 million Poles have received their first vaccine dose since vaccination began in late 2020, according to Michal Dworczyk, the government's coordinator of the vaccination campaign.

Dworczyk said the vaccination drive was slower than initially projected due mainly to distribution issues.

Namibia

Namibia plans to go ahead with the roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine even after neighbor South Africa stalled its use because trials showed it’s less effective against mild infection of a COVID-19 strain dominant in the region.

The country is expected to receive doses of the shot as part of its program to immunize 60 percent of the population after the World Health Organization recommended its use, Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula told lawmakers on Wednesday.

“We have received a letter from the COVAX facility stating that Namibia can expect to be distributed doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine during mid- or late-February,” he said.

The health ministry was still investigating whether the South African variant is prevalent in Namibia, Shangula said. Apart from COVAX, the government is also in talks with manufacturers in China, Russia, India and the US, he said.

China will donate 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm shot to Namibia, which is one of the Asian nation’s priority countries to buy its vaccines, according to Zhang Yiming, the Chinese ambassador to Namibia.

Namibia, with a population of 2.5 million people, has recorded about 36,000 cases of the virus and almost 400 deaths.

Germany

Germany’s infection numbers appear to be stagnating at a level that is still too high, a top public health official said on Friday, warning a downward trend in recent weeks could reverse.

“We are standing possibly at a turning point again,” Lother Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, said at a weekly news conference.

“The national case number appear to be stagnating.”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 9,113 to 2,369,719 , data from RKI showed on Friday.

The reported death toll rose by 508 to 67,206, the tally showed. 

Russia

Russia on Friday reported 13,433 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,972 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,139,031.

Authorities also reported another 470 deaths, raising the official toll to 82,396.

Colombia

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 kicked off on Thursday in Colombia's capital Bogota, the worst-hit city in the South American country, said health authorities.

The vaccination drive began simultaneously at hospitals in Bogota and other major cities, as healthcare workers working on the frontlines of the pandemic received their shots.

Vatican

The Vatican has told employees that they may risk losing their jobs if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination without legitimate health reasons.

According to a decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, effectively the governor of Vatican City, getting a vaccine was “the responsible choice” because of the risk of harming other people.

Vatican City, at 108 acres the world’s smallest state, has several thousand employees, most of whom live in Italy. Its vaccination program began last month and Pope Francis, 84, was among the first to get the jab.

The seven-page decree says that those who cannot get vaccinated for health reasons may be given another position, presumably where they would have contact with fewer people, but will receive the same pay even if the new post is a demotion.

The decree was signed on Feb 8 and later posted on the website of the governor’s department.

There have been fewer than 30 cases of coronavirus in the Vatican City, most of them among the Swiss Guard, who live in a communal barracks. 

Montenegro

China will donate 30,000 anti-coronavirus vaccines doses to Montenegro, the Chinese embassy in Montenegro confirmed in a press release on Thursday.

Vaccine nationalism

Rich countries are on course to have over a billion more doses of COVID-19 vaccines than they need, leaving poorer nations scrambling for leftover supplies as the world seeks to curb the coronavirus pandemic, a report by anti-poverty campaigners found on Friday.

In an analysis of current supply deals for COVID-19 vaccines, the ONE Campaign said wealthy countries, such as the United States and Britain, should share the excess doses to “supercharge” a fully global response to the pandemic.

The advocacy group, which campaigns against poverty and preventable diseases, said a failure to do so would deny billions of people essential protection from the COVID-19-causing virus and likely prolong the pandemic.

The report looked specifically at contracts with the five leading COVID-19 vaccine makers - Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax.

It found that to date, the United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan have already secured more than 3 billion doses - over a billion more than the 2.06 billion needed to give their entire populations two doses.

The World Health Organization on Thursday urged nations producing COVID-19 vaccines not to distribute them unilaterally but to donate them to the global COVAX scheme to ensure fairness.

Senegal

Senegal will launch its COVID-19 vaccination campaign next Tuesday, Minister of Health and Social Action Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr announced Thursday night.

On Wednesday, President Macky Sall welcomed the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine acquired from China's pharmaceutical group Sinopharm.

Apart from the 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, Sall said that his country had started the process of acquiring other vaccines, and would receive 6.798 million doses in the coming weeks for mass vaccination.

The country plans to vaccinate 20 percent of its population, which is about 3.5 million people, in the first phase of mass vaccination.

Senegal has reported 32,099 COVID-19 cases, with 26,363 recoveries and 781 deaths.

Eritrea

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Thursday called on the public to strengthen preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Afwerki's remarks came on the same day the health ministry reported 48 new cases, bringing the tally in the Red Sea nation to 2,675.

Another 77 patients have recovered, raising the number of recoveries to 2,050. 

The death toll remained at seven.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia registered 871 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 150,179, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday evening.

The death toll rose to 2,249 after 12 more deaths were reported, according to the ministry.

It added that 275 new recoveries were logged, taking the recovery tally to 130,399.

Ecuador

Ecuador recorded 1,641 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative caseload to 269,860 cases, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The figure represents an exponential increase in the number of daily infections registered since lockdown measures were relaxed in January.

Meanwhile, the country's national vaccination drive against COVID-19, which began on Jan 21, is progressing with the inoculation of healthcare workers and seniors living in care homes.

Greece

Greece has started the issuance of an online certificate of vaccination against COVID-19, according to the country’s Health and Digital ministries. The certificate will be a medical document that will serve as a certificate of medical practice and will be issued to those who have received both doses of the vaccine.

To avoid forgery, it will have a digital stamp, a verification code and a QR code.

The number of cases involving the new COVID-19 variants in Greece has increased by 53 percent within 5 days, according to the National Public Health Organization (EODY).

On Thursday, the EODY reported 281 new such cases were logged since Feb 14, bringing the total to 811 in three months.

The majority of those cases, 764 in total, involved the virus strain that was first detected in Britain. 

The EODY said that there were 1,400 new COVID-19 cases registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall tally to 176,059. 

The death toll rose by 27 to 6,221.

Algeria

Algeria on Thursday reported 178 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the North African country to 111,418.

The death toll rose by three to 2,950 while the total number of recoveries increased by 151 to 76,700, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Cuba

Cuba reported on Thursday 923 new coronavirus cases and five deaths, bringing the tally to 41,688 and the toll to 282.

There were some 5,098 active cases, including 62 patients in intensive care units.

Francisco Duran, the director of hygiene and epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, said the figures showed that there is community transmission in all provinces.

The capital Havana has the biggest outbreak, registering 461 new cases of infection in the past day, followed by the southeast province of Santiago de Cuba with 117 new cases, and western Pinar del Rio province with 87 new cases, said Duran. 

Carabinieri officers patrol one of the main access road to Bollate, in the outskirts of Milan, Italy, Feb 18, 2021. Four cities in Lombardy region, including one in the province of Brescia, have been placed under the strictest “red zone” lockdown measures following spikes of infections traced to the highly contagious British coronavirus variant. (LUCA BRUNO / AP)

Italy

Italy reported 347 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 369 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 13,762 from 12,074 the day before.

Italy has registered 94,887 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 2.77 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 17,963 on Thursday, down from 18,274 a day earlier.

There were 177 new admissions to intensive care units, rising slightly from 113 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients edged up to 2,045 from a previous 2,043.

Albania

Albania's health ministry registered 1,112 fresh coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 96,838.

The death toll climbed by 17 to 1,617 while the total recoveries increased by 991 to 60,675.

A vaccination campaign kicked off  in the southwestern city of Vlora on the same day. 

Vaccination is already ongoing in the capital Tirana and Shkodra.

Morocco

The Moroccan health ministry on Thursday announced 477 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the North African country to 480,056.

The death toll went up by seven to 8,524 while the number of recoveries increased by 970 to 462,436.

Latvia

The Latvian government decided on Thursday that schoolchildren in the first four grades will return to classrooms from Monday, while hair and nail salons will be allowed to reopen on March 1.

According to the decision, kids will be able to resume learning in classrooms in municipalities where the two-week COVID-19 incidence is below 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The COVID-19 incidence in 19 municipalities is currently low enough to reopen schools, according to the health authorities. 

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said that the limited resumption of services will allow around 6,000 of the 8,000 people employed in the beauty industry to resume work.

Latvia on Thursday reported 708 new COVID-19 cases, as its two-week infection rate dropped to 521.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean government on Thursday began the COVID-19 vaccination program following the arrival of the first consignment of Sinopharm's vaccines that were donated by the Chinese government.

Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the health minister, became the first citizen to receive a Sinopharm jab, kicking off the vaccination drive that aims to inoculate at least 10 million of the country's 16 million citizens to achieve herd immunity.

His deputy John Mangwiro and other officials from the health ministry also joined a group of frontline health workers at Wilkins Hospital in Harare to receive their shots as part of the government's efforts to encourage people to take the vaccine.

The vaccination will be done in three phases, starting with frontline workers at high risk of contracting the coronavirus, followed by those with chronic illnesses, the elderly, and people in prisons.

Zimbabwe has so far recorded 35,423 positive cases and 1,418 deaths. 

Health workers are sanitized at a local hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb 18, 2021. (TSVANGIRAYI MUKWAZHI / AP)

Sweden

Sweden is making plans for its mass vaccination drive amid signs that mutated strains of COVID-19 are spreading across the country, local media reported on Thursday.

Some 800,000 individuals will be vaccinated in west Sweden's Vastra Gotaland, and around 470,000 in south Sweden's Skane, SVT News reported.

The planning for a wider vaccination scheme comes at a time when infections appear to be on the rise, prompting the government to announce a potential partial lockdown on Wednesday.  

Meanwhile, COVID-19 patients in Sweden may now be treated with a drug currently under review by the European Medicines Agency, the country's authority in charge of pharmaceuticals announced on Thursday.

The Swedish Medical Products Agency said it has decided to authorize the emergency use of Bamlanivimab in COVID-19 patients with underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus.

Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody specifically developed by the US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. 

Belarus

Belarus reported 1,386 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the nationwide count to 273,659, according to the health ministry.

The total recoveries increased by 1,800 to 263,368, the ministry said, while the toll climbed by nine to 1,885.

Finland

Finland is on high alert over the new coronavirus variants. The government has extended entry restrictions into Finland and has ordered the closure of bars with immediate effect especially in the capital region, which is hit hardest by the pandemic.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the incidence rate of coronavirus in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital districts has almost doubled in four weeks, while in almost all other hospital districts, the incidence rate has decreased.

Taneli Puumalainen, chief physician at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), said that residents of the Uusimaa region should not travel to other parts of Finland unless absolutely necessary.

The THL recommended that bars, pubs and nightclubs in the metropolitan area be closed completely as soon as possible for more than three weeks, until March 14.

The move came as the THL reported 614 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, bringing the tally to 52,209 and the toll to 725.

To date, 450 cases of the new virus variants have been confirmed in Finland. Of those, 427 involved the variant that was first identified in Britain.

According to a Ministry of the Interior's press release, the government decided to extend the current restrictions on entry into the country until March 18.


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