|
 Europe's vaccine row escalates
Europe's fight to secure COVID-19 vaccine supplies sharpened on
Thursday when Britain demanded that it receive all the shots it had
paid for after the European Union asked AstraZeneca to divert
supplies from the UK.
The EU, whose member states are far behind Israel, Britain, and the
United States in rolling out vaccines, is scrambling to get supplies
just as the West's biggest drug makers slow deliveries to the bloc
due to production problems.
As vaccination centres in parts of Germany, France and Spain
cancelled or delayed appointments, the EU publicly rebuked
Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca for failing to deliver, even
though the vaccine has not yet been approved by the bloc.
India says it has contained spread
India said on Thursday it had curbed an increase in infections, with
a fifth of its districts reporting no new cases for a week.
The country of 1.35 billion has recorded the highest number of cases
in the world after the United States, though the rate of infection
has come down significantly since a mid-September peak. Some studies
have suggested pockets of India have attained herd immunity through
natural infection.
"India has successfully contained the pandemic," Health Minister
Harsh Vardhan said, noting that fewer than 12,000 cases had been
reported in the previous 24 hours.
WHO team in Wuhan leaves quarantine
A World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of
the pandemic left its quarantine hotel in Wuhan on Thursday to begin
field work, two weeks after arriving in the Chinese city where the
virus emerged in late 2019.
[to top of second column] |
 The mission has been plagued by
delays, concern over access and bickering
between China and the United States, which has
accused China of hiding the extent of the
initial outbreak and criticised the terms of the
visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the
first phase of research. China
has been promoting a narrative that the virus existed abroad before
it was discovered in Wuhan.
New Zealand and Vietnam most successful against COVID
New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan rank as the top three in a COVID
Performance Index of almost 100 countries for their successful
handling of the pandemic, with Britain and the United States near
the bottom of the pile.
The Lowy Institute said its index, published on Thursday, excludes
China due to a lack of publicly available data.
The other countries in the top 10 are Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda,
Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka.
Portugal in 'terrible' phase
Portugal is in a terrible phase of the pandemic, Prime Minister
Antonio Costa said, warning that it would be some weeks before
things might start to improve and that only limited help could be
expected from abroad.
With a total of 668,951 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11,305 deaths,
including a record 293 dead on Wednesday, Portugal has the world's
highest seven-day per capita average of new daily cases and deaths.
 Costa told the broadcaster TVI the situation was not bad but
"terrible".
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
