(Reuters) – The pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study by Oxford University.
Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analysed in the study, which spanned Europe, the United States and Chile.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* The European Commission has proposed extending the period of its scheme for monitoring and potentially limiting exports of vaccines from the bloc, a spokesperson said.
* A cap on how much pension funds can invest in less liquid assets should be scrapped to encourage more investments in longer-term assets to help the British economy recover, a UK-government backed report said.
* President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said France would give 120 million vaccine doses to poor nations, doubling an earlier pledge, French news agency AFP reported.
AMERICAS
* The New York governor is considering employing the National Guard and out-of-state medical workers to fill hospital staffing shortages.
* Pedro Guimaraes, a member of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s delegation to the United Nations, has tested positive for COVID-19, the CEO of state lender Caixa Economica Federal said on Sunday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Thailand’s COVID-19 task force approved a plan to procure a combined 3.35 mln doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines, a spokesperson said. The country will also waive its mandatory quarantine requirement in Bangkok and nine regions from November 1 to vaccinated arrivals, according to authorities.
* The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Vietnamese T&T group have reached an agreement on Sputnik-V vaccine supplies to Hanoi, the RIA news agency reported.
* Australian authorities announced plans to gradually reopen locked-down Sydney.
* New Zealand is to begin allowing small numbers of vaccinated travellers to isolate at home instead of in state-run quarantine facilities, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Egypt has authorised Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets the shot abroad, said on Friday.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A small-scale clinical study of the combined use of the AstraZeneca and Sputnik Light vaccines has shown strong antibody growth in a majority of the study’s participants, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said.
* The World Health Organization is seeking to revive its stalled inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 with a new team, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
* CanSino Biologics’s single-dose vaccine, given at a lower dosage than that for adults, is safe and triggers an immune response in children aged 6-17, results from a small trial showed on Sunday.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* World shares rose, led by sharp gains in energy shares as crude oil prices soared to three-year highs of almost $80 a barrel while European stocks firmed after Germany’s election results ruled out chances of a purely left-wing coalition. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Global oil demand is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by early next year as the economy recovers, producers and traders said.
* The Bank of Japan will continue to focus on reducing the economic impact of the pandemic, the governor said.
(Compiled by Juliette Portala and Ramakrishnan M.; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Barbara Lewis)
