(Reuters) – Australia’s second-most populous city reintroduced coronavirus restrictions from Thursday after an Australian Open hotel quarantine worker tested positive to COVID-19, sending more than 500 tennis players and officials into isolation.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Spain has detected its second known case of the South African coronavirus variant, although data suggested the third wave of contagion was slowing.
* UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined people in clapping outside their front doors in a tribute to Captain Tom Moore, the centenarian who touched the hearts of millions during last year’s COVID-19 lockdown.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun ordered a revamp of social distancing guidelines in a bid to win greater public support for efforts to stop local transmission of the new coronavirus.
* Australia will buy 10 million additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech.
* China reported 30 new COVID-19 cases on the mainland on Feb. 3, up slightly from 25 cases a day earlier but still well below the peaks seen at the height of the latest wave last month.
* Vietnam reported 37 more local COVID-19 infections in a fresh outbreak, all linked to a factory in the northern province of Hai Duong, where the coronavirus was first found last week after nearly two months.
AMERICAS
* New vaccination centres are due to open this month in the heart of two California communities especially hard hit by the coronavirus.
* Chicago schools have postponed in-person classes for another day for thousands of students after the third-largest district in the U.S. failed to reach an agreement with the teachers union on a safety plan.
* Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is in “excellent” health and is virtually free of COVID-19 symptoms, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Uganda ordered 18 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and up to 40% of the shipments are expected to arrive by the end of March, the government said.
* Kuwait said it would suspend entry for non-citizens for two weeks from Feb. 7 after a rise in coronavirus cases, while neighbouring Saudi Arabia suspended entertainment activities and dine-in services at restaurants.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* People’s willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is rising around the world and more than half of those questioned said they would take the shot if it were offered next week, an updated survey of global vaccine confidence found on Thursday.
* India’s Serum Institute will supply 1.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Novavax to the COVAX vaccine scheme as part of a new long-term deal, the head of the U.N. Children’s Fund said.
* Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac have teamed up in a 150 million euro ($180 million) deal to develop a COVID-19 vaccine from next year that could target several variants with one shot.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved a budget outline on Wednesday that would allow them to pass President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid plan without Republican support.
* Thai consumer confidence dropped for a second straight month in January, hitting a nine-month low, on concerns about a fresh wave of coronavirus inflections.
(Compiled by Ramakrishnan M. and Amy Caren Daniel; Edited by Anil D’Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)
