A lab technician at a French pharmaceutical company Sanofi's laboratory in Val de Reuil. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

LONDON / NAIROBI / SAO PAULO / MEXICO CITY / ADDIS ABABA / ROME / PARIS / BUENOS AIRES / VIENNA / RABAT / QUITO / ALGIERS / HAVANA / KIGALI / LOS ANGELES / WARSAW / MOSCOW / KIEV - Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline Plc are restarting a trial of their COVID-19 vaccine, a step forward for a shot that got delayed by a problematic study in the fall.

The French drugmaker has corrected the formulation of the shot, which was weaker than planned in the previous trial and failed to create enough of an immune response in people 50 years and older, according to a statement Monday.

Assuming results are good for the new second-phase trial -- which will include 720 adults in the US, Honduras and Panama -- the candidate could move on to late-stage studies in the second quarter and become available by the end of the year. The current trial will evaluate three different dosages for the vaccine, which requires two shots.

As two of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, Sanofi and Glaxo have faced heavy criticism for failing to lead the way on inoculating against the coronavirus -- putting them in stark contrast to the likes of biotechs BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc., which developed highly effective shots in less than a year.

Separately, Sanofi also said it has agreed to make a plant in France available to Johnson & Johnson for the formulation and filling of about 12 million doses a month of that company’s COVID shot, assuming it gains regulatory clearance. The drugmaker already has a pact with Pfizer and BioNTech in which it agreed to perform some of the final steps needed to produce more than 125 million doses of that vaccine.

The one-dose vaccine from J&J is already being reviewed for emergency clearance in the US, and it could gain approval in Europe within the next few weeks, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Saturday. Meanwhile, regulators in the US and UK are already reviewing data for a shot from Novavax Inc.

UK

Lockdown measures will start to be rolled back in England on March 8 because the criteria which guides easing is currently being met, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said on Monday.

Johnson said his government’s priority was to get children back to school in a cautious easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Earlier the day, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said that schools will reopen on March 8, while two families or six people will be able to meet outside from March 29.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government’s priority was to get children back to school in a cautious easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions

“Children first, then the priority is schools, two people able to meet outdoors and maybe have a coffee together, that is also on the 8th of March. Then (on the) 29th, two families, or rule of six, and outdoor sports (will be allowed to start again).”

The evidence indicates that vaccines are proving effective at cutting the transmission of COVID-19, Zahawi said. 

Some 17.6 million people, over a quarter of the 67 million population, have now received a first dose of the vaccine. 

On Sunday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the first dose of a vaccine appears to reduce the chances of transmitting coronavirus by "about two-thirds".

Meanwhile, Hancock said the country had recently succeeded in driving down cases of the more infectious South African variant. Overall daily coronavirus cases hovered around 11,000 a day last week, compared with a high of over 80,000 in late December.

READ MORE: UK speeds vaccine push to offer all adults shot by July 31

Another 9,834 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the cumulative caseload to 4,115,509, according to official figures released Sunday.

Daily fatalities were the lowest since December and less than half of the average of the previous seven days. Another 215 people died, compared to a weekly average of almost 500.

Leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also ease restrictions over the coming months.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 111.3 million while the global death toll topped 2.46 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

ALSO READ: G7 pledges to work with G20 on fighting virus, climate change

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded on the African continent reached 3,822,470 as of Sunday evening, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The death toll stood at 101,053, Africa CDC data showed.

A total of 3,375,490 people infected with COVID-19 have so far recovered across the continent, the agency said.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia are the countries worst affected by COVID-19 in Africa in terms of the number of confirmed cases, according to the Africa CDC.

A sign encourages visitors to wear face masks in Santa Monica, California, on Feb 19, 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / AP)

US

The United States faces a dark milestone this week despite a recent decline in COVID-19 cases as it prepares to mark a staggering half-million deaths, with President Joe Biden planning to memorialize the lives lost.

The country has so far reported 28.13 million confirmed cases and more than 498,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The White House said on Sunday it planned a memorial event in which Biden would deliver remarks.

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases specialist, said the US isn’t out of the “stunning” coronavirus pandemic, even as cases fall sharply and vaccinations expand, although “normality” may be at hand by year-end.

He said that Americans may still need to wear masks in 2022 to protect against the coronavirus.

Less than 15 percent of the US population has received at least one vaccine dose, with nearly 43 million getting at least one shot and nearly 18 million getting a second shot, US statistics show.

Meanwhile, more localities are easing some restrictions, such as on indoor dining, and moving to reopen schools even as millions await their shots, sparking debate over the safety of teachers, students and others.

In another development, three Navy sailors aboard the US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who tested positive for COVID-19 were flown to Naval Base Guam Sunday, The Guam Daily Post reported.

According to USNI News Website launched by the US Naval Institute, the carrier has tested about 900 members of the crew following the three positive tests.

France

The French health ministry reported 22,046 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, from 16,546 last Sunday, when new cases had dipped briefly.

The ministry also reported 160 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, from 183 on Saturday, taking the cumulative toll to 84,306. The total number of cases now stands over 3.6 million.

The mayor of Nice in southern France called on Sunday for a weekend lockdown in the area to reduce the flow of tourists as it battles a sharp spike in coronavirus infections to triple the national rate.

Scotland 

Vaccination reduced the risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 by more than 80 percent, according to findings in Scotland that add to the growing signs of effectiveness of immunization.

The shot developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford cut hospital admissions by 94 percent by the fourth week after a single dose, with the one from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE leading to an 85 percent reduction, according to study results published Monday.

The data add to a growing body of evidence that inoculations are having a significant effect in countries with the most advanced campaigns. The Pfizer vaccine also appeared to stop the vast majority of recipients in Israel from becoming infected, according to a draft publication confirmed by a person familiar with the work.

Researchers in Scotland compared outcomes for patients who had received a first shot with results for those who had not. Among those ages 80 and over, one of the highest-risk groups, vaccination was associated with an 81% reduction in hospitalization across both vaccines.

The results should further ease concerns about the UK’s decision to delay second doses of the two-shot Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines in an effort to speed up protection for more of the population.

So far, some 17.5 million people have had a first dose, about a third of all adults in the U.K. The country also has Europe’s highest death toll from the virus, at more than 120,000, but hospitalizations have fallen by more than half from a January peak.

Italy

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has extended a ban on movement between the country’s 20 regions for another month -- until late March -- as his new government tries to step up a vaccination campaign to counter the pandemic.

A cabinet meeting chaired by Draghi prolonged travel curbs between regions until March 27 and maintained a 10 pm curfew, according to a statement. The government also introduced a ban on visits between households in the highest-risk areas.

Draghi has made speeding up vaccinations a priority for his administration, with a plan to draw on civil protection officials, the armed forces and volunteers. He’s aiming to kick-start an economy crippled by the pandemic as well as a year of national and regional lockdowns.

The premier is weighing whether to make changes to Italy’s three-tiered system of restrictions based on regional conditions. The rules come up for renewal on March 5 as the pandemic has claimed more than 95,000 lives in a country trapped in the worst recession since World War II, with debt at almost 160 percent of output.

Italy reported 232 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 251 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 13,452 from 14,931.

Italy has registered 95,718 deaths linked to coronavirus since the first outbreak in February, and has reported around 2.81 million cases of infection.

READ MORE: Hungary 1st country in EU to approve Sinopharm vaccine

Poland

Poland is expected to announce new rules this week demanding a negative coronavirus test result to enter the country, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Monday.

A person with a negative coronavirus test result will not have to quarantine after entering the country, Niedzielski told private broadcaster TVN. The new rules are likely to be announced at the end of the week.

He added that Poland is at the start of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic which is likely to peak at the end of March or beginning of April. 

Russia

Russia reported Monday 337 deaths caused by the coronavirus, the lowest daily number since mid-November. 

The country has also seen a steady decline in cases, posting 12,604 new cases on Monday, down from a peak of almost 30,000 a day in December.

According to the authorities, Russia has reported a total of 4,177,330 confirmed cases and 83,630 deaths.

Ukraine

Ukraine has agreed to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses with US maker Novavax to 15 million, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Monday.

The first batches of the vaccine are expected to arrive in Ukraine starting July, Stepanov said on Facebook. Ukraine lags behind most European countries in securing COVID-19 vaccines and has yet to start mass vaccinations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this month Ukraine had secured 12 million coronavirus vaccine doses developed by AstraZeneca and Novavax from the Serum Institute.

Stepanov, who visited India this weekend, said on Sunday that the first batch of 500,000 doses AstraZeneca vaccine was on its way to Ukraine. Health ministry officials say the doses will arrive “any day now” but have given no exact date.

Ukraine has registered more than 1.3 million coronavirus cases and 25,156 deaths.

In this May 18, 2020 file photo, people use a hand-washing station installed for members of the public entering a market in Dodoma, Tanzania. (PHOTO / AP)

Tanzania

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Tanzania on Sunday to share information on its measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, saying the authorities there had repeatedly ignored his requests.

President John Magufuli’s sceptical approach towards COVID-19 has caused alarm among WHO officials. A government spokesman told Reuters on Feb 12 that Tanzania had “controlled” the outbreak, but it stopped reporting new coronavirus infections and deaths in May last year. At that time it had registered 509 cases and 21 deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Tanzanians testing positive for COVID-19 abroad underscored “the need for Tanzania to take robust action both to safeguard their own people and protect populations in these countries and beyond”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that Tanzanians testing positive for COVID-19 abroad underscored “the need for Tanzania to take robust action both to safeguard their own people and protect populations in these countries and beyond”.

Tedros also repeated a call he made with Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa head, in late January for Tanzania to bolster public health measures against COVID-19 and prepare to distribute vaccines.

He added that since then he had spoken with several authorities there to no avail.

“This situation remains very concerning. I renew my call for Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases and share data,” Tedros said in a statement on WHO’s website.

In a statement later on Sunday, Magufuli’s office said the president wanted Tanzanians to follow measures to protect themselves against coronavirus. However, it also said that:

“Magufuli wants Tanzanians to ... trust and put God first, given that wearing masks, social distancing and lockdowns have been seen to be insufficient as countries that implemented them have lost thousands compared to Tanzania.”

Magufuli said Tanzanians should wear only use locally-made face masks, saying foreign-made ones may be unsafe.

Brazil

Brazil registered 527 additional COVID-19 deaths and 29,026 new cases of the virus on Sunday, according to data released by the health ministry.

The South American nation has now recorded 246,504 total coronavirus deaths and 10,168,174 confirmed cases.

Bahia state Governor Rui Costa will tighten restrictions between 8 pm and 5 am, after occupancy of intensive-care beds rose to 80 percent in the state, he said on Facebook. Bars and restaurants will close at 6 pm, and transport operations will stop at 8:30 pm. Food delivery is permitted until 11 pm. The measures take effect Monday.

Mexico

Mexico on Sunday registered 310 additional fatalities due to the novel coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 180,107 deaths.

According to health ministry data, Mexico also registered 3,104 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus infections for a total of 2,041,380 cases. 

Argentina

The Argentine government officially approved the emergency use of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, according to a resolution signed Sunday by Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti.

Vizzotti's spokesperson stressed that clinical trials of the vaccine had shown that the shot is "safe and effective."

China's Sinopharm vaccine is the fifth authorized vaccine by Argentina, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, Britain's AstraZeneca vaccine and Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.

According to President Alberto Fernandez's social media account, "more than 700 thousand people have received doses of the vaccine against COVID-19. More than 400 thousand people have already received the two doses and they have been immunized".

Argentina has registered 2,064,334 COVID-19 cases and 51,198 deaths as of Sunday night.

Senegal 

Senegal will its start its COVID-19 inoculation program this week after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China.

The West African nation plans to vaccinate about 100,000 healthcare and other frontline workers in the first round starting Wednesday, health ministry spokesman Mamadou Ndiaye said by phone from Dakar on Sunday. The elderly and those with chronic conditions will follow, Ndiaye said. The country aims to administer as many as 3.5 million inoculations in the first round.

Senegal is also in talks with Russia and India, among others, to acquire additional doses of vaccine to achieve its goal of inoculating as much as 90 percent of the targeted 3.5 million people by the end of 2021. The country expects to receive 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility in the first week of March, Ndiaye said.

The health ministry on Sunday reported 297 new COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths, bringing the cumulative tally to 32,927 cases with 808 deaths,

Austria

COVID-19 vaccination is picking up speed in Austria due to growing delivery quantities, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said on Sunday.

Currently, one person gets vaccinated every 5.5 seconds on average in the Alpine country, said Anschober in a press release published by the Austrian Press Agency (APA).

More than 200,000 people have been fully immunized all over the country, according to the minister.

Anschober expects more than a million vaccine doses to be available in March, and in the second quarter, the delivery volume will almost triple compared to the first quarter.

Anschober cited the falling infection rate in nursing homes as "the first positive result of the vaccination," noting that at the end of November, there was a peak of 4,300 active cases while currently there were only 359. The number of deaths in nursing homes has also fallen dramatically at the same time, he added.

Ghana 

Ghana on Sunday confirmed 598 new COVID-19 cases, bringing its infection tally to 80,253, said the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

According to the government agency, the country has so far registered 577 COVID-19-related deaths, while the number of active cases stood at 6,658.

The Ghanaian government has pledged that mass vaccination will begin from the first week of March.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health on Sunday evening reported tha t949 new COVID-19 cases were registered over the last 24 hours, taking the national count to 152,806.

The country's death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic reached 2,279 after eight additional fatalities were reported.

The ministry said 125 new recoveries were registered during the same period, taking the total recoveries to 131,366.

Morocco

Morocco announced on Sunday 207 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the North African country to 481,155.

The total number of recoveries increased by 621 to 464,664 while the death toll rose by six to 8,554, according to the health ministry.

The ministry also reported 21 new cases involving the new COVID-19 strains, raising the total number of such cases to 24.

The new variants that were first detected in South Africa and Brazil have not been detected in Morocco yet, the ministry said.

People wait for their turn to get vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot in front of a bus containing a so-called rolling vaccination center, during a test run in Grosshartmannsdorf, Germany, on Feb 21, 2021. (ROBERT MICHAEL / DPA VIA AP)

Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government warned that the coronavirus spread needs to slow further before Germany can consider loosening restrictions on Europe’s largest economy.

The country’s contagion rate has inched up for three straight days even before the first easing steps in months go into effect. The setback has heightened tensions in Germany’s ruling coalition amid growing concerns about aggressive mutations of the virus.

Some children in 10 of Germany’s 16 states are returning to schools and daycares on Monday, with hairdressers set to reopen on March 1. Authorities will need to evaluate the impact of the moves before considering whether other curbs can be eased, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Sunday.

“Once we have firm footing, we can take another step” after reopening schools and daycares, Spahn said in an interview with ARD television.

Germany’s contagion rate reached 61 per 100,000 people over seven days on Monday, the highest level in more than a week and the latest evidence that a steady decline since a peak before Christmas has ground to a halt. 

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 4,369 to 2,390,928, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 62 to 67,903.

The government’s corona cabinet is meeting on Monday to discuss the situation, but a decision on Germany’s lockdown isn’t likely before March 3, when Merkel and regional state leaders convene.

Ecuador

Ecuador on Sunday reported 1,576 fresh COVID-19 cases and 21 more deaths, bringing the cumulative caseload to 274,673 and the death toll to 10,796.

According to the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), 238,817 patients have recovered from the disease so far, while 490 remain hospitalized with a reserved prognosis.

The city of Quito in the province of Pichincha has been the most affected by the pandemic, having recorded a total of 89,157 cases as of Sunday.

"Crowds and non-civic behavior have caused an increase in the number of patients and in deaths," the ministry said in its report, adding that "one of the main sources of transmission is family gatherings."

Chile

Chile has reported more than 20,000 deaths from COVID-19, the  Ministry of Health reported on Sunday.

According to the Department of Statistics and Health Information (DEIS), 68 additional deaths were logged in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 20,042.

In addtion, 3,618 new cases were registered in that period, bringing the country's tally to 799,460.

Cuba

Cuban health authorities on Sunday reported 1,039 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths.

The national director of hygiene and epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, Francisco Duran, said the death toll has reached 296 while the tally rose to 44,523.

The daily tally was the second highest since Feb 2.

The 1,039 infections reported this Sunday constitute the second highest daily figure of the month, only surpassed by the 1,065 reported on Feb. 2.

Duran said that 5,046 patients were hospitalized, with 26 in critical condition and 40 in serious condition.

Algeria

Algeria on Sunday reported 153 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the North African country to 111,917.

The death toll from rose to 2,961 after three more fatalities were added, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Meanwhile, another 136 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 77,136, the ministry said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has recorded more than 5,000 deaths related to COVID-19, according to the official count on Sunday.

Over the past week, the country reported 270 to 500 new cases on a daily basis, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The new cases were mostly registered in the capital Sarajevo, as well as in the Tuzla area in the country's north and in the southern area of Mostar.

To date, BiH has recorded 128,342 confirmed cases and 5,007 deaths, according to official data.

The COVID-19 incidence rate in the Federation of BiH (FBiH), one of the two entities of BiH, is four to five times lower than during the peak of the pandemic in November last year, but current indicators showed an increase in the number of new infections in Sarajevo Canton, which still requires more strict compliance with epidemiological measures, said Sanjin Musa, an epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health of FBiH.

Albania

Albania reported Sunday 1,184 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's tally to 100,246, according to the Ministry of Health.

Thirteen more deaths were also registered, raising the toll to 1,666. The total number of recoveries rose by 796 to 63,329.

On the same day,  medical staff started to vaccine the elderly in the capital city of Tirana. The first people who were inoculated were 24 distinguished personalities, including former politicians and artists above the age of 80.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said that his decision to inoculate distinguished personalities in the country served as a "message of solidarity".

Rwanda

Rwanda's Ministry of Sports on Sunday announced the resumption of some sporting activities in the country after more than one month of suspension following a Cabinet resolution on COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

Individual and non-contact outdoor sports activities such as jogging, athletics, individual physical fitness, hiking, cycling, golf, tennis, badminton, skate, archery and squash will be allowed to resume from Feb 23, the ministry said in a statement.

Martial arts will be allowed for only individual fitness exercises and practice, it said, adding that group practice and competitions are prohibited.

Gyms, recreational centers and swimming pools will remain closed, except those in hotels, where the facilities will be allowed to open for guests with negative COVID-19 test results, according to the statement.

Rwanda has reported more than 18,053 cases and 249 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.