(Reuters) – The head of the World Health Organization has called for launching negotiations this year on an international treaty to boost pandemic preparedness, as part of sweeping reforms envisioned by member states.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Spain is considering easing rules on wearing face masks outdoors, as early as in mid-June.
* Russia has decided to resume flights from Moscow to London from June 2 thanks to an improved situation, while it keeps in place bans on flights to Turkey and Tanzania until June 21.
AMERICAS
* With half the country at least partially protected against the coronavirus, Americans escaped their pandemic doldrums over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
* Chile’s public health regulator has approved the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for teenagers.
* Peru has almost tripled its official COVID-19 death toll to 180,764, making it the country with the worst death rate per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Japan plans to start vaccination at workplaces and universities on June 21 to speed up the country’s inoculation drive.
* Australia’s Victoria state authorities said it was still unclear whether a snap one-week lockdown to contain a fresh COVID-19 outbreak would end as planned on Thursday night.
* Vietnam is seeking to buy COVID-19 vaccine production technology and wants to build a plant to supply the COVAX programme.
* Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte prolonged partial coronavirus curbs in the capital and nearby provinces until mid-June.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Turkey further eased measures including partially lifting a weekend lockdown and opening restaurants to a limited number of guests.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A Wuhan-based affiliate of China’s Sinopharm said the start of operations at a new factory will raise the annual production capacity of its COVID-19 vaccine to at least 1 billion doses.
* A deal on an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization was no closer to acceptance on Monday despite Washington’s backing, due to expected scepticism about a new draft, sources close to the talks told Reuters.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday while gold flirted near five-month highs ahead of European and U.S. data this week that will likely offer clues on the health of the global economy. [MKTS/GLOB]
* China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace this year in May, though sharp rises in raw material prices and strains in supply chains crimped some production.
* South Korea’s factory activity extended growth into an eighth straight month in May, a private sector survey showed, thanks to the recovery in global demand.
* Japanese companies cut spending on plant and equipment for the fourth straight quarter in January-March.
(Compiled by Ramakrishnan M.; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
