(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Most Japan firms say Games should be cancelled or postponed
Nearly 70% of Japanese firms want the Tokyo Olympics either cancelled or postponed, a Reuters survey found, underscoring concerns that the Games will increase coronavirus infections at a time when the medical system is under heavy strain.
Tokyo residents, too, are deeply divided on whether they should go ahead mid-pandemic, after the Games were already delayed by a year due to COVID-19. (Open https://reut.rs/3wgkfwO in an external browser to see a picture story on the Tokyo residents)
COVID fight could return ‘to square one’: experts sound vaccines alarm
India’s export ban on COVID-19 shots risks dragging the battle against the pandemic “back to square one” unless wealthy nations step in to plug a gaping hole in the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, health specialists said on Thursday.
“It is a huge concern,” said Anna Marriott, health policy manager at the global charity Oxfam. “The current approach that relies on a few pharma monopolies and a trickle of charity through COVAX is failing – and people are dying as a result.”
Latin America poised to benefit as U.S. raises vaccine exports
Latin America is poised to receive millions of U.S.-made COVID-19 shots in the coming weeks as the United States emerges as a top exporter of vaccines against the novel coronavirus, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The United States is considering prioritising countries within its own hemisphere for the 80 million domestically-made vaccine doses it has pledged to send abroad, one person familiar with the matter said.
Japan to approve more vaccines as state of emergency set to widen
Japan is expected to expand a state of emergency to cover the island of Okinawa on Friday, and it is also set to approve Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca PLC COVID-19 vaccines after health regulators’ green light a day earlier.
The state of emergency for Okinawa, expected to be formalised later on Friday, would run for about a month from Sunday through June 20, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said, beyond the May 31 deadline for nine other prefectures under emergency curbs. It would mark the third straight week that Japan has expanded the state of emergency.
Australia to invite proposals for domestic production of mRNA vaccines
Australia on Friday will invite proposals from companies for establishing domestic manufacturing of messenger ribonucleuc acid (mRNA) vaccines to prepare the country for future pandemics and support long-term health needs, Industry Minister Christian Porter will say.
The federal government will seek interest from the market for two months starting on Friday while continuing talks with existing drug manufacturers, Porter will say, according to extracts of the announcement reviewed by Reuters.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
