(Reuters) – Sweden, Portugal, Latvia and Slovenia joined a number of the European Union states in suspending AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots over concerns of possible serious side-effects, while the World Health Organization said there was no proven link and people should not panic.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said.
* A new coronavirus variant has been found in the French region of Brittany, said the French health ministry, adding that initial analysis did not show this new variant to be more serious or transmissible than others.
AMERICAS
* AstraZeneca will supply up to half a million extra doses of its experimental antibody-based COVID-19 combination therapy to the United States.
* Canada will update its guidelines on AstraZeneca vaccine to recommend that it be administered to people aged 65 years and older, CBC News reported.
* Venezuela will not authorise AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said, citing unspecified “effects on patients”.
* Mexico has asked the United States to share doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine it has in stock, a senior diplomat said, following up on a request made by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to his counterpart Joe Biden.
* Brazil has signed a deal with Pfizer to purchase 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* India, Cambodia and the Philippines’ capital Manila expanded curbs and issued new safety recommendations amid a sharp rise in infections.
* Japan’s Suga received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in preparation for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next month, becoming the country’s first government official to be publicly inoculated.
* A rash of Japanese coronavirus clusters linked to daytime karaoke sessions by the elderly prompted calls for caution from authorities.
* Australia has no plans to halt the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said no new restrictions against the pandemic would be imposed for now even as the country recorded its highest daily rise in coronavirus infections this year.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Results of AstraZeneca’s U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial are being reviewed by independent monitors, and emergency authorization could come in about a month, a top U.S. official said.
* Moderna Inc said it had dosed the first participant in an early-stage study of a new COVID-19 vaccine candidate that could potentially be stored and shipped in refrigerators instead of freezers.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street’s advance to record highs, as investors anticipated that the meeting this week of the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks will keep policies accommodative to help drive a post-pandemic global economic recovery. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Saudi Arabia’s economy shrank 3.9% year on year in the fourth quarter but rose 2.5% from the previous three months, according to data that showed an upturn from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic towards the end of 2020.
* The pandemic has significantly strengthened market power among dominant firms, which could put a drag on medium-term growth and stifle innovation and investment, the International Monetary Fund said in a new research paper.
($1 = 0.8384 euros)
(Compiled by Jagoda Darlak and Aditya Soni; Editing by Ed Osmond)
