A healthcare professional administers an injection of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre at Ffwrnes Theatre in Llanelli, South Wales, on April 9, 2021. (GEOFF CADDICK / AFP)

COPENHAGEN / NAIROBI / BRASILIA / LONDON / CAIRO / HELSINKI / BUDAPEST / OSLO - COVID-19 deaths in Europe surpassed the one million mark on Friday, reaching 1,001,313, according to the dashboard of the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe. 

The dashboard also tallied more than 47 million COVID-19 cases across the Region as of 10:00 am Central European Time (0800 GMT). The top three on the list were France, Russia and the United Kingdom, with total cases of 4,939,258, 4,623,984 and 4,370,321, respectively.

The WHO/Europe, one of WHO's six regional offices around the world, serves the WHO European Region which comprises 53 countries, covering a vast geographical region from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

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Africa

Africa accounts for less than two percent of the 690 million COVID-19 vaccines administered globally so far. "Although progress is being made, many African countries have barely moved beyond the starting line," Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said in a statement issued in Nairobi on Thursday evening.

Matshidiso Moeti said limited access to vaccines could derail efforts to contain the pandemic in the continent amid threats posed by a third wave of infections. 

"Limited stocks and supply bottlenecks are putting COVID-19 vaccines out of reach of many people in this region. Fair access to vaccines must be a reality if we are to collectively make a dent on this pandemic," she added.

Statistics from WHO indicate that 45 African countries have received COVID-19 vaccine, 43 have begun inoculating high-risk groups while nearly 13 million of the 31.6 million doses delivered so far have been administered.

Moeti said that vaccine rollout in the continent has not been uniform since ten countries have received 93 percent of the doses while logistical and personnel hiccups are undermining mass inoculation against the coronavirus.

A woman is seen receiving a jab of the COVID-19 CoronaVac vaccine, developed by Chinese Sinovac in partnership with the Brazilian Institute Butantan, at the headquarters of Cacique de Ramos, one of the most traditional carnival groups of the city, at the Ramos neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 08, 2021. (MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP)

Brazil

Brazil on Thursday set a daily record of 4,249 COVID-19 deaths, with overwhelmed hospitals running low on supplies and the Senate about to open an investigation into the response of the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has played down the pandemic from the start.

Brazil is nearing the single-day record that the United States registered on Jan 20 of 4,405 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brazil’s outbreak is spiraling out of control, with vaccines in short supply and Bolsonaro fighting lockdowns.

Bolsonaro’s government has minimized the risk of hospitals running out of medicine, as the right-wing leader tries to allay fears of the virus, while railing against state and local efforts to restrict movement.

“Let’s not cry over spilled milk. We’re still going through a pandemic that, in part, is being used politically - not to defeat the virus but to bring down the president,” Bolsonaro said in a public address on Wednesday. “In what country on earth do people not die? Unfortunately, people die everywhere.”

Brazil’s Senate plans to set up a special committee next week to investigate the government’s response to the pandemic, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said.

A Supreme Court judge ruled on Thursday that the Senate must proceed with installing the committee, which Pacheco had sought to delay despite already having been approved by a sufficient number of senators.

While stating he would comply with the court order, Pacheco said it was too early to investigate while Brazil was still dealing with the crisis and that the committee would put members’ health at risk as its meetings are held in-person.

Egypt

Egypt has agreed with China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine domestically, and could produce up to 80 million doses a year, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The agreement could provide a major boost to vaccination efforts in Egypt, which has a population of 100 million and has thus far received just 1.5 million doses.

An Egyptian medical worker checks people's temperatures on the first day of vaccination against COVID-19 in Egypt, on March 4, 2021 in Cairo. (KHALED DESOUKI / AFP)

Egypt’s cabinet and presidency approved a joint manufacturing agreement to make the vaccines that will be distributed in Egypt and to other African countries, Zayed said.

One production facility can produce 20 million doses annually, while another could produce 60 million, the health ministry said in a statement.

Egypt has so far received 854,400 doses of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca as well as another 650,000 of the Chinese vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The number of Sinopharm doses received would soon rise to 1 million, Zayed said.

Egypt began vaccinating frontline medical staff against COVID-19 on Jan 24 and expanded its roll-out on March 4 to include the elderly and people with chronic diseases.

Finland

The Finnish government plans to gradually begin to ease the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, Prime Minister Sanna Marin told a news conference on Friday.

She added, however, that the spread of the virus is still severe and restrictions should not be lifted prematurely.

“Our goal is that when school ends, children can go to summer camps and people can start planning midsummer parties at the cottage,” Marin said. Finland’s school year ends on June 5.

The government’s draft exit plan, which is dependent on the rollout of vaccines, aims to begin with the lifting later this month of a state of emergency that was declared on March 1.

Restaurants are also expected to reopen this month with limited seating and opening hours, a government official said.

France

France’s top health advisory body in charge of COVID-19 vaccines recommended on Friday that recipients of a first dose of the AstraZeneca shot who are under 55 should receive a second dose with a so-called messenger RNA vaccine.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the Haute Autorite de la Sante (HAS) had opted for the dose-mixing recommendation, which has not yet been evaluated in trials.

The French decision came after European drug regulators said on Wednesday there was a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot and a very small number of cases of rare blood clots.

Some countries had already suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution, but most have resumed using the shot, although some have done so with age restrictions.

Two mRNA vaccines, one from Pfizer and BioNTech and one from Moderna, are approved for use in France.

mRNA vaccines prompt the human body to make a protein that mimics part of the virus, triggering an immune response, while AstraZeneca’s shot uses a harmless, weakened version of a chimpanzee common-cold virus to deliver instructions to generate an immune response and prevent infection.

In this undated photo, a medical worker holds a vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP / GETTY IMAGES)

Germany

Germany has doubled its pace of COVID-19 vaccinations after a sluggish start, as it battles a third wave of the virus that threatens to overwhelm medical facilities.

The country administered about 720,000 doses on Thursday, a fourth straight daily record, thanks to a surge in vaccinations in doctors’ offices. That pace should continue for most of April as a network of some 35,000 general practitioners receive 1 million doses more in each of the next two weeks - and even more after that.

Germany will start negotiations with Russia for the Sputnik vaccine if the shot is approved by European Union regulators, reported Reuters citing an unidentified source.

The talks will depend on Russia providing the necessary vaccine testing data to the European Medicines Agency, said the report.

The EU has faced criticism over its slow vaccine rollout and its reliance on AstraZeneca’s vaccine that’s been linked to blood-clotting.

Hungary

Hungary will reopen secondary schools on May 10, three weeks later than originally planned, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Orban also said he expects 3.5 million of Hungary’s 10 million people to be vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by April 19, which will then allow coronavirus curbs to be eased further.

Norway

Norwegian police said on Friday they have fined Prime Minister Erna Solberg for breaking COVID-19 social distancing rules when organising a family gathering to celebrate her birthday.

The fine is for 20,000 Norwegian crowns (US$2,352) police chief Ole Saeverud told a news conference.

The two-term prime minister apologised last month for organising an event to celebrate her 60th birthday with 13 family members at a mountain resort in late February, despite a government ban on events attended by more than 10 people.

While the police would not have issued a fine in most such cases, the prime minister has been at the forefront of the government’s work to impose restrictions, the police said.

“Though the law is the same for all, all are not equal in front of the law,” said Saeverud, justifying the fine.

UK

Britain will confirm in early May whether it will allow international travel to resume from May 17 and which countries will fall into the red, amber or green categories in a new traffic light system based on COVID-19 risks.

Giving new details of how it hopes to allow people to travel this summer, the government’s Global Travel Taskforce also said work was ongoing to develop a certification system, sometimes called “vaccine passports”, for inbound and outbound travel.

Britain is gradually emerging from a strict winter lockdown prompted by a huge surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths. As things stand, international travel is banned except under specific circumstances defined by the government.

Case numbers have dropped dramatically since the January peak, and one of the government’s top priorities is to avoid undermining the success of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme by importing vaccine-resistant variants from overseas.

So far, more than 31.8 million people in the United Kingdom have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 6.1 million have received two, in one of the fastest mass vaccination campaigns in the world.

Under the new traffic light system, restrictions such as hotel quarantine, home quarantine and compulsory COVID tests will apply differently depending on which category of country a passenger has come from.

Factors in assessing which category a country should fall into will include the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated, the rate of infection, the prevalence of variants of concern and the country’s access to reliable genomic sequencing.

There will be a “green watchlist” identifying countries most at risk of moving from green to amber, although the government said it would not hesitate to change a country’s category at short notice should the data show the risk had increased.

The taskforce recommended removing a “permission to travel form” currently required, meaning passengers would no longer need to prove they had a valid reason for leaving Britain.

It also said it was working with the travel industry and with private COVID-19 test providers to reduce the cost of travel for the British public.

“This could include cheaper tests being used when holidaymakers return home, as well as whether the Government would be able to provide pre-departure tests,” the statement from the travel taskforce said.