(Reuters) – U.S. coronavirus cases crossed 15 million as President-elect Joe Biden vowed to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office and Britain started inoculating people, offering hope of slowing the pandemic.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser. * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that authorities in Europe’s largest economy would not be able to provide coronavirus vaccines to enough people in the first quarter of 2021 to cause a big change in the pandemic’s course.
* A 90-year-old grandmother became the world’s first person to receive a fully tested novel coronavirus shot on Tuesday, as Britain began mass-vaccinating its people in a global drive that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in peacetime history.
* Russia on Wednesday reported 26,190 new cases in the last 24 hours, including 5,145 in Moscow, taking the national total to 2,541,199 since the pandemic began.
* Moldova’s prime minister, Ion Chicu, has contracted the coronavirus, his adviser, Boris Harea, wrote on Facebook late on Tuesday.
AMERICAS
* Mexico’s health ministry on Tuesday reported 11,006 new confirmed cases and 800 additional fatalities, bringing its total to 1,193,255 cases and 110,874 deaths.
* The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a $916 billion coronavirus relief package, after congressional Democrats shot down a suggestion for a pared-down plan from the Senate’s leading Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
* Trump said he would invoke the Defense Production Act if needed to ensure Americans are first in line for domestically produced coronavirus vaccines at a summit designed to give him and his team credit for speedy vaccine development.
* Canada is confident there will be no disruption of coronavirus vaccine supplies even if the United States blocks their export because vaccines are manufactured in several countries, a government official said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* South Korea reported 686 new cases on Wednesday as it battles a third wave of infection. President Moon Jae-in said more vaccines should be secured despite budget constraints.
* Nearly 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean “cruise-to-nowhere” from Singapore were told to stay in their cabins on Wednesday after a novel coronavirus infection was detected on board, forcing the ship back to port, authorities said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Israel will receive a first shipment of Pfizer Inc vaccines on Thursday and will administer them to the elderly and other high-risk populations.
* Turkey’s daily deaths rose to a record 211 in the past 24 hours, data showed.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The United Arab Emirates health ministry said on Wednesday an interim analysis of in-country Phase III clinical trials of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine has 86% efficacy against the infection.
* Pfizer cleared the next hurdle in the race to get its vaccine approved for emergency use after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released documents that did not raise any new issues about its safety or efficacy.
* AstraZeneca and Oxford University have more work to do to confirm whether their coronavirus vaccine can be 90% effective, a peer-reviewed paper in the Lancet showed.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian shares rose to a record high and U.S. stock futures gained on Wednesday as investors tracked positive news on vaccines and efforts to launch more fiscal stimulus. [MKTS/GLOB]
* China’s factory gate prices fell at a slower pace in November, adding to signs that the world’s second-largest economy is rebounding from the pandemic, but consumer prices unexpectedly declined for the first time in over a decade.
(Compiled by Anna Rzhevkina Aditya Soni and Devika Syamnath; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Arun Koyyur)
