(Reuters) – The chairman of the Gavi vaccine alliance, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Wednesday that an additional $5.2 billion is needed to continue to deliver COVID vaccines at scale, as more than 3 billion people in the world have yet to receive their first dose.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Betting Omicron cases have peaked, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dropped COVID-19 rules in England, as he faces a revolt by his own lawmakers who are angry over a series of lockdown parties in Downing Street.
* The Hungarian opposition’s candidate for prime minister said he was isolating after testing positive.
* Portuguese voters with COVID-19 and those in isolation will be allowed to leave home to cast their ballot when the country holds a snap election on Jan. 30.
* Greece began imposing recurring fines on those over the age of 60 who are unvaccinated.
* The Czech government scrapped a decree making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over 60s, while the daily tally of new cases hit a record high.
* Austria, Slovenia and Croatia also reported record new daily infections, but new cases and deaths fell in neighbouring Italy.
* The European Commission will likely approve $1.93 billion state aid for Berlin airport to avoid its bankruptcy, sources told Reuters.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* The Indian drug regulator’s subject expert committee recommended full approval for Covishield and Covaxin, the two COVID-19 vaccines that have dominated the country’s inoculation drive.
* Thousands of people in Hong Kong volunteered to adopt unwanted hamsters after the government’s mass cull over COVID-19 fears.
AMERICAS
* Infections continue to accelerate in the Americas, reaching new peaks, with 7.2 million new cases and more than 15,000 deaths in the last week, the Pan American Health Organization said.
* Brazil and Mexico reported record new daily cases with 137,103 and 49,343 respectively.
* The U.S. government plans to make 400 million non-surgical N95 masks from its stockpile available for free to the public starting next week.
* The Federal Trade Commission ordered U.S. marketers to immediately stop making false claims their products can prevent COVID-19.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* Algeria has decided to close its schools for 10 days after it registered a rise in Omicron cases.
* South African-American businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong opened a new vaccine plant in Cape Town, intended to help his local NantSA company make COVID-19 shots in future and address the continent’s deadly dearth of manufacturing capacity.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* French biotech firm Valneva said preliminary studies had shown that three doses of its inactivated vaccine candidate neutralised the Omicron variant.
* Swiss medical researchers said they have launched an early-stage study to test a next-generation vaccine candidate which would be administered via an arm patch.
* Tennis champion Novak Djokovic has an 80% stake in Danish biotech firm QuantBioRes, which is aiming to develop a medical COVID-19 treatment, its CEO told Reuters.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Strong U.S. and European corporate results helped stock markets initially rebound on Wednesday from the prior day’s sell-off, but rising crude prices kept inflation concerns alive even as bond yields eased after they touched fresh multi-year highs. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner slammed payments to the International Monetary Fund as costing the country more than COVID-19, as talks over a new $40 billion deal show little sign of advancing.
* A group of more than 100 billionaires and millionaires said the ultra-wealthy were not currently being forced to pay their share of the global economic recovery from the pandemic.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland and Marta Frackowiak; Edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
