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 DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals
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EUROPE
* More than 70 British lawmakers have signalled their opposition to
the introduction of so-called vaccine passports that the government
is considering bringing in to help open the economy as it starts
lifting restrictions.
* New restrictions in France will impact economic growth in 2021 but
it is too early to say by how much, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire
said, as the country heads into its third lockdown.
* Most European Union member states on Thursday agreed to share part
of their upcoming vaccine deliveries with the five EU countries they
said need them most.
* Bulgaria will receive more than 1.2 million additional doses from
Pfizer and BioNTech in the second quarter, Prime Minister Boyko
Borissov said.
AMERICAS
* Brazil's Sao Paulo sped up efforts to empty old graves and make
room for a soaring number of COVID-19 deaths as the city hall
registered record daily burials this week.
* Chile closed its borders and tightened an already strict lockdown
further on Thursday to stop the influx of new variants as cases
climbed past 1 million despite one of the world's fastest
vaccination rates.
* The United States may not need AstraZeneca's vaccine, even if it
wins U.S. regulatory approval, the nation's top infectious disease
doctor Anthony Fauci said on Thursday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Authorities in the Japanese city of Osaka will discuss plans with
the 2020 Tokyo Games organisers to cancel the western region's leg
of the Olympic torch relay, its governor said, to avert a clash with
measures to curb a spate of infections.
* Japan will also receive bigger shipments of Pfizer's vaccines to
immunise the elderly faster, the government said after negotiating
the increase in supplies.
[to top of second column] |
 * Vietnam asked diplomats of
several countries for help to access alternative
sources for inoculations, as it seeks to secure
the 150 million doses of vaccine needed to cover
its adult population.
* India's temporary pause on major exports of
AstraZeneca's shot could have a "catastrophic"
impact if extended, the head of the continent's
disease control body said on Thursday, before
the country hit a six-month high in its tally of
daily infections. MIDDLE EAST
AND AFRICA
* Kuwait said on Thursday it would extend a month-long partial
curfew that had been due to end next week until April 22, while
Qatar ordered the suspension of in-person learning at public and
private universities and schools as of April 4.
* Namibia will for the first time receive $271 million from the
International Monetary Fund to address its deteriorating fiscal
position which has been worsened by the pandemic, its finance
ministry said on Thursday.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. drug regulator gave Moderna clearance to speed up output
of its vaccine by letting it fill a single vial with up to 15 doses,
with the United States banking on rapid immunisation to stem the
spread of the virus.
* South Africa's health regulator approved on Thursday Johnson &
Johnson's vaccine, paving the way for large-scale deliveries of the
shot the government has put at the heart of its immunisation plans.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian markets were set to open higher in a holiday-lightened
trading session, riding a surge of strong factory data and falling
bold yields that pushed U.S. and European benchmark stock indexes to
record highs.
(Compiled by Juliette Portala and Vinay Dwivedi ; Editing by Gareth
Jones)
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