A heath worker draws the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), from a vial during a post-registration phase trial at the City Clinic #46 in Moscow, Russia. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

CAIRO / GENEVA / OTTAWA / LONDON / KAMPALA / RABAT / RIGA / HAVANA / SANTIAGO / TUNIS / QUITO / TIRANA / VALLETTA / BUENOS AIRES / HELSINKI / RIO DE JANEIRO / ADDIS ABABA / PARIS / MOSCOW / NAIROBI - Russia has approved a single-dose version of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine after it showed almost 80 percent efficacy, according to the state-run fund that backed its development.

The 79.4 percent efficacy rate of the vaccine, called Sputnik Light, is based on an analysis of real-world data rather than a standard clinical trial, and interim results from final-stage study are expected later this month, according to a statement from the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Early and mid-stage studies showed no serious adverse events, RDIF said.

One injection of Sputnik Light “significantly reduces the possibility of severe cases leading to hospitalization,” RDIF said in the statement.

Russia’s two-dose Sputnik V vaccine rivaled other major shots used in the US and Europe when it showed 92 percent effectiveness against COVID-19 in a peer-reviewed study. There had been initial skepticism when President Vladimir Putin announced last August that Russia had cleared the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine for use before it even completed safety trials.

Russia confirmed 7,639 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily number since Sept 26, taking the nationwide tally to 4,855,128, the official monitoring and response center said Thursday. The national COVID-19 death toll rose by 351 to 112,246 in the past day, while the number of recoveries grew by 7,788 to 4,472,338.

WTO

As the US President Joe Biden has backed a proposed waiver for COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property rights, the next stop is for the World Trade Organization to hammer out a deal - a process that could take months.

Not only are the negotiations expected to be lengthy, they are also likely to result in a waiver that is significantly narrower in scope and shorter in duration than the one initially proposed by India and South Africa, trade experts said.

A more realistic goal may be completion of the agreement in time for the WTO's next ministerial conference, scheduled for Nov 30 through Dec 3, said Clete Willems, a former Trump White House trade official who previously worked at the US trade mission to the WTO in Geneva. That would give vaccine producers more time to boost global supplies which could help contain the virus and ease pressure for the waiver.

The initial IP waiver proposal by India and South Africa last October included vaccines, treatments, diagnostic kits, ventilators, protective gear and other products related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EU

The head of the European Union’s executive arm mounted a spirited defense of the bloc’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, taking a swipe at countries like the US and the UK as she hailed her region as the world’s top vaccines exporter.

“It is clear that our European vaccination campaign is a success,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told an online conference. “What counts is the steadily increasing, daily delivery of vaccines to our people - and to the world.”

“Some might say that countries like the US and the United Kingdom have been faster at the beginning,” von der Leyen said. “But I say: Europe achieved this success, while remaining open to the world. While others keep their vaccine production for themselves, Europe is the main exporter of vaccines worldwide.”

The EU’s vaccine production capacity has been keeping the global rollout of shots going, even as it dealt with early setbacks in its inoculation campaign, especially delays by AstraZeneca Plc. Governments initially criticized the Commission but the bloc’s vaccination push has picked up pace in recent weeks.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference on the Commission's response to COVID-19 following a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, March 17, 2021. (JOHN THYS / POOL VIA AP)

France

France has decided to widen its COVID-19 vaccine rollout to people aged 16-17 who could face a high risk of a major illness from the virus, said the country’s health ministry on Thursday, as the country gradually accelerates its vaccine programme.

The health ministry said this category of 16-17 year olds would be allowed to get the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Thursday onwards.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 155.20 million while the global death toll topped 3.24 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Novavax Inc

Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine had efficacy of 51 percent against infections caused by the South African variant among people who were HIV negative, and 43 percent in a group that included people who were HIV positive, according to a new analysis published on Wednesday.

The Novavax post-hoc analysis was published in the New England Journal of Medicine along with full data from the company's trial in South Africa, which included nearly 2,700 volunteers who had not been previously infected with the coronavirus.

Results announced in January showed efficacy of 60.1 percent against symptomatic COVID-19 in the South African trial looking at a mixture of the original virus and the South African variant among those who were HIV-negative. Efficacy was 49.4 percent among a mixed group of HIV positive and HIV negative participants.

The trial's main goals were to test how the vaccine performed in people who were HIV negative, as well as those who were HIV positive and medically stable. Among those evaluated, 94 percent were HIV negative and 6 percent were HIV positive.

Finland

Finnish pharmaceutical company Therapeutica Borealis Oy has developed a COVID-19 nasal spray, and the medication can be used for treatment and act as a prophylactic drug alongside vaccination, chief developer Kalervo Vaananen told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Designed to affect the function of the nasal mucosa in three ways, the spray can prevent and weaken the ability of the virus to enter a human body and replicate itself, making it possible to ward off the deadly disease and decrease the risk of falling ill seriously, said the company.

Active ingredients of the medicine are aprotinin, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin, which are known as effective drugs for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. Vaananen's company said it used these ingredients in a targeted manner on the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract.

Vaananen said drug development is a long-term task, and clinical trials are required before drugs are sold on the market.

United States

President Joe Biden on Wednesday threw his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, bowing to mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other countries, but angering pharmaceutical companies.

Pharmaceutical companies working on vaccines have reported sharp revenue and profit gains during the crisis. The industry's biggest lobby group warned that Biden's unprecedented step would undermine the companies' response to the pandemic and compromise safety.

One industry source said US companies would fight to ensure any waiver agreed upon was as narrow and limited as possible.

His decision comes amid a devastating outbreak in India, which accounted for 46 percent of the new COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide last week, and signs that the outbreak is spreading to Nepal, Sri Lanka and other neighbors.

Egypt

Egypt on Wednesday announced two-week new precautionary measures to control the spread of the COVID-19.

Restaurants, cinemas, shops, malls, clubs and entertainment facilities will be closed at 9 pm local time (1900 GMT) for two weeks starting the evening of Thursday, just ahead of the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the festival Eid al-Fitr.

The health ministry reported 1,090 new cases and 60 more deaths as of Tuesday. Experts say official numbers likely only reflect a small fraction of COVID-19 cases in the country due to relatively limited testing and the non-inclusion of private test results.

Canada

Canada is authorizing the use of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children aged 12 to 15, the first doses to be allowed in the country for people that young, the federal health ministry said on Wednesday.

Supriya Sharma, a senior adviser at the Canadian federal health ministry, said the Pfizer vaccine, produced with German partner BioNTech SE, was safe and effective in the younger age group.

Also, Ontario, Canada's most populous province, reported 2,941 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday morning, bringing the country's cumulative total to 1,252,891 cases, according to CTV.

The province reported 44 additional deaths. The new deaths bring the total death toll in Ontario related to COVID-19 to 8,187.

Meanwhile, with COVID-19 vaccine demand declining in the United States, some Canadians facing third-wave lockdowns are flying south to get inoculated, perhaps months earlier than they would be able to at home.

The US vaccination campaign has reached a tipping point, with supply outstripping demand due to a combination of factors including skepticism about the vaccines. The number of Americans seeking vaccines dropped by a third in recent weeks, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is encouraging Canadians to cross the border and tap into this oversupply without paying any fee, which means the U.S. government is paying for foreign travelers to get their COVID-19 shots. The White House declined to comment.

ALSO READ: US, Canada boats at Niagara Falls show contrast in virus approach

Britain

Another 2,144 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,425,940, according to official figures released Wednesday.

The country also reported another 27 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,570. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

The data were revealed as the British government announced that laboratories to test current and new COVID-19 vaccines against variants of concern are to be built at Porton Down in Wiltshire, southwest England.

Uganda

Uganda's ministry of health on Wednesday announced that the country has registered an 81 percent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases over the last six weeks.

Ruth Aceng, minister of health, told reporters that the surge in the number of cases signals the start of the second wave of the pandemic in the country.

Aceng urged the public to stop being complacent about the pandemic.

"My fellow Ugandans, the resurgence of the pandemic is real, with the young people being affected severely. This is worrisome, as the ministry has noted that complacency regarding adhering to the standard operating procedures is increasing," said Aceng.

Uganda is currently facing five COVID-19 variants, including those first found in India, South Africa and Britain, with the ministry developing a plan to combat the resurgence of the disease.

Morocco

Morocco's COVID-19 tally rose to 512,656 on Wednesday as 371 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Health, the death toll rose to 9,043 with five new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 300 people are in intensive care units.

Meanwhile, 5,231,766 people have received so far the first vaccine shots against COVID-19 in the country, and 4,326,873 people have received their second doses.

Lithuania

The Lithuanian government on Wednesday approved the so-called "opportunity passports" to people who have attained immunity to COVID-19 either by recovering from the illness or getting vaccinated, and those who have tested negative for COVID-19.

The holders of the "opportunity passports" will be exempt from certain COVID-19 restrictions, such as being allowed to dine inside restaurants and attend larger public events and performances.

Up to 500 holders of the "opportunity passports" will be allowed to gather for indoor or outdoor events on condition that they do not exceed 75 percent of the venue's capacity.

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Wednesday that thanks to vaccination Lithuania will ease some COVID-19 restrictions. But restrictions on gatherings will most probably remain in place throughout summer as the rate of infections is still high.

Health workers prepare to administer shots of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at Madejski Stadium in Reading, England, April 13, 2021. (STEVE PARSONS / POOL VIA AP)

Moderna Inc

Moderna Inc’s booster shots gave positive results against immune system-evading strains that emerged in South Africa and Brazil, according to early results from a mid-stage trial.

Two types of booster shots studied spurred higher levels of virus-halting antibodies, Moderna said in a statement. One of the boosters is an additional low-dose shot of its existing vaccine, while the other type is customized against the South Africa strain.

“We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective against these newly detected variants,” Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We will continue to make as many updates to our COVID-19 vaccine as necessary to control the pandemic.”

Cuba

Cuba's Ministry of Public Health reported on Wednesday 1,010 new COVID-19 infections in the last day, bringing the total to 111,654, along with eight more deaths for a total of 694.

Forecasts point to a greater increase in the number of infections and deaths, the ministry's director of hygiene and epidemiology Francisco Duran said in his daily report.

Duran also noted that of the total number of cases reported in the last day, 61 corresponded to imported infections, the highest figure over the past two weeks.

Havana added another 590 daily cases, with the highest rate of infections in the country at 450.6 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Chile

Chile's Health Ministry reported on Wednesday 3,791 new COVID-19 infections and 30 more deaths in a day, bringing the totals to 1,222,949 cases and 26,726 deaths.

Health Minster Enrique Paris said in a statement that 15 of the country's 16 regions have seen a decrease in cases in the last seven days.

Chile faced a peak of COVID-19 infections in April, with more than 9,000 cases in a day, which led to the quarantine of 80 percent of the population in the South American country and the postponement of elections for constituent conventions, mayors and councilors slated for April 10-11.

Tunisia

Tunisian Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 1,448 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 315,600.

The death toll from the virus rose by 106 to 11,122 in Tunisia, and the total number of recoveries reached 269,653, the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi chaired a meeting of the scientific committee for the fight against the coronavirus, which discussed the development of the health situation in the country, and stressed the need to accelerate the pace of the COVID-19 vaccination.

Ecuador

Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health reported on Wednesday 1,806 new COVID-19 infections and 38 more deaths in the last 24 hours, for a total of 393,048 cases and 13,726 deaths.

Another 5,181 deaths are considered to be COVID-19 related, but not verified, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the country continues its vaccination plan against COVID-19, with 821,960 people in priority groups and seniors receiving their first dose and 245,512 their second, according to the health ministry.

Albania

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said here on Wednesday that Albania will receive 145,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines donated by the European Union (EU) to fight against the pandemic.

The EU commissioner, who paid a short official visit to Albania as part of his tour in the Western Balkans for delivering COVID-19 vaccines, held a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at  Tirana International Airport.  

According to Rama, the first batch has arrived in Albania and as of August the country will have the rest of what has been allocated..

On Wednesday, the Technical Committee of Experts on the coronavirus situation in Albania decided to ease some COVID-19 restrictions as the epidemiological situation in the country is stable.

Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu declared that the number of new infections and fatalities has dropped and the country has a low incidence rate, 26.6 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.

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Malta

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela announced on Wednesday that he had gone into quarantine after his wife, Lydia Abela, tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day she received the vaccine.

In a statement, the government said that both Abela and their nine-year-old daughter, Giorgia Mae, had tested negative for the virus.

"Lydia is well and has not had any symptoms," the prime minister said on Facebook.

The health authorities on Wednesday reported 30 new cases of the virus. There are currently 280 active cases, while the virus has so far claimed 416 lives in the island country.

Germany

German residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will be exempt from most lockdown rules under legislation approved Thursday in the lower house of parliament.

The law, which also covers people who have recovered from COVID-19, is set to be voted on by the upper house on Friday and will likely take effect this weekend. For people considered immune, mandatory tests for trips to the hairdresser and non-essential stores will no longer be required, and the need to comply with curfews and quarantine rules will be waived.

Germany vaccinated more than 1 million people in a single day for the second time on Wednesday, lifting the number who have received at least one shot to more than 25 million, or 30.6 percent of the population, according to the latest data. More than 7 million, or 8.6 percent, are fully vaccinated.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 21,953 to 3,473,503, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 250 to 84,126, the tally showed.

Argentina

Argentina on Wednesday reported 663 deaths from the novel coronavirus disease in a single day, the highest number of daily fatalities since the onset of the outbreak here on March 3, 2020.

The figure raises the country's pandemic death toll to 65,865, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health.

Tests detected 24,079 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the same 24 hours, bringing the accumulated caseload to 3,071,496.

Brazil

Brazil recorded 73,295 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 2,811 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

Brazil has registered nearly 15 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 414,399, according to ministry data.

United Nations

UN chief Antonio Guterres believes vaccine makers should allow other companies to produce versions of their COVID-19 shots, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday, as the World Trade Organisation discussed waiving patent rights to boost supply to developing countries.

"The Secretary-General has often called for technology transfers and sharing of know-how and voluntary licensing or sharing of licensing," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

WTO members are assessing signs of progress after seven months of talks on a proposal by South Africa and India to waive patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. WTO decisions are based on consensus, so all 164 members must agree. read more

Some UN officials say the waiver discussion is a distraction and an ideological fight that won't solve the problem of how to scale up vaccine manufacturing.The 60 sponsors of the proposal from emerging economies are pitted against richer developed countries - such as Switzerland, the United States and in the European Union - where many pharmaceutical companies are based.

Guterres has long called for COVID-19 vaccines to be made available to all countries and appealed for more money to fund the COVAX vaccine sharing facility, which aims to buy up to 1.8 billion doses in 2021 to ensure equitable global access.

Mexico

Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 267 new confirmed coronavirus deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities in the country to 218,007.

Separate government data published in March suggested the real death toll may be at least 60 percent above the confirmed figure.

Peru

Peru President Francisco Sagasti announced on Wednesday a fresh deal with Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE to purchase an additional 12 million doses of their vaccine against COVID-19 as a fierce second wave of the virus ravages the country.

The president said on social media the additional shots would be delivered by year's end.

Peru's vaccination drive has been slow to get started and fraught with allegations of corruption, with just under 4 percent of the population inoculated with at least one dose to date, according to a Reuters tabulation.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia registered 785 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 260,139 as of Wednesday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said 23 new deaths from the coronavirus were reported across the country during the same period, bringing the national death toll to 3,795.

The East African country reported 729 more COVID-19 recoveries, taking the national count to 203,408.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

In this file photo dated March 29, 2021, a man prepares for his AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Ndirande Health Centre in Blantyre, Malawi. (THOKO CHIKONDI / FILE, AP)

Africa

The delays in supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa linked to the crisis in India could reignite new waves of infections in the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) official said Thursday.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said during weekly virtual briefings that the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch combined with new variants could undermine efforts to contain the pandemic in the continent.

"While we call for vaccine equity, Africa must also knuckle down and make the best of what we have. We must get all the doses we have into people's arms," Moeti said in a statement.

According to WHO, Africa currently accounts for 1 percent of COVID-19 vaccines administered globally, down from 2 percent a few weeks ago amid supply bottlenecks.

Moeti said that low vaccination coverage in Africa where eight doses per 1,000 people have been administered compared to 150 doses per 1,000 people globally, bodes ill for the continent's quest to flatten the curve.

Statistics from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicate that 37.6 million doses had been acquired in the continent while 20.2 million had been administered as of May 4.

Meanwhile, a drive to get Africans vaccinated against the coronavirus is being hamstrung by governments’ reluctance to sign indemnity clauses, a preference for Pfizer Inc vaccines over other more readily available shots and a lack of preparedness to distribute the inoculations.

Less than 20 million people have been inoculated in Africa, with almost half of those living in Morocco, according to Bloomberg’s COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker.

So far, seven African countries have yet to start vaccinating their populations, said Phionah Atuhebwe, the New Vaccines Introduction Medical Officer for Africa for the World Health Organization.

Madagascar has only recently expressed interest in securing vaccines and joined COVAX and the Central African Republic has just put together a vaccine deployment plan, according to Atuhebwe. Chad has meanwhile rejected shots developed by AstraZeneca Plc that COVAX has to offer and said it will wait for Pfizer shots to become available, she said.

The delay in starting vaccinations in Chad is purely due to its vaccine preference, a government official said.

“We prefer Pfizer over the other vaccines, so we decided to wait,” Ouchemi Choua, the National Health Response Coordinator for Chad’s vaccination program, said from N’Djamena, the capital, adding that Pfizer doses are expected to start arriving in June. “The delay won’t have any major impact on the response, as long as distribution starts as scheduled.”

Kenya

Kenya on Thursday welcomed the United States position to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to increase global supplies of desperately needed doses.

Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary, Tourism and Wildlife said the international community should now lobby the big pharmaceutical companies to accept and support this move to facilitate the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Africa.

Balala said the production and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines in as many countries as possible are vital to keep everyone safe in this interconnected global village.