U.S. leaders urgently called on Americans to wear masks and threatened even more drastic stay-at-home orders after deaths from the coronavirus set a single-day record, with two people dying every minute, while worldwide deaths crossed 1.5- million.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19.
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of the news.
EUROPE
* More than half of Spaniards are not willing to get COVID-19 vaccinations as soon as they are available, a survey showed as the government announced a target of 15 million to 20 million vaccinations by mid-2021.
* Britain hopes that millions of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be delivered by the end of the year but the total will depend on how quickly it can be manufactured.
* Moscow launched an online service for people to book appointments to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
* Poland, Norway, Sweden and Bulgaria announced plans for vaccination programmes as they eye first vaccine deliveries in early 2021.
* Hungary’s government will decide on Monday on whether current restrictions should be extended for the Christmas holidays.
AMERICAS
* U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said it was realistic to expect that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated by the end of this year.
* U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said he was reacting to gloating by a British television interviewer when he criticized the country’s quick approval of the first coronavirus vaccine.
* President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asked Mexicans to cancel their year-end holiday plans and curb their movement amid rising case numbers in the country.
* Chile approved a bill that overhauls its immigration rules and the service that oversees them, ahead of an anticipated surge in arrivals from abroad as the pandemic subsides.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* South Korea’s capital, Seoul, announced unprecedented restrictions shuttering most establishments and shops at 9 p.m. and cutting back public transportation operations by 30% in the evenings.
* Philippine police threatened to cane people who violate social distancing protocols as the Southeast Asian nation fights the spread of the virus during the festive season.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Moderna Inc announced an expanded pact with the Israeli health ministry to supply an additional 4 million doses of its vaccine candidate.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Two vaccine candidates developed by China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals triggered strong immune responses in an early-stage human trial and appeared to be safe, the company said.
* Challenges in Pfizer Inc’s supply chain for the raw materials used in its COVID-19 vaccine played a role in its decision to slash its 2020 production target.
* Moderna said it expects to have between 100 million and 125 million doses of its experimental vaccine available globally in the first quarter of 2021.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Growing prospects for a U.S. economic stimulus package and the roll-out of vaccines boosted demand for riskier assets, taking the safe-haven dollar to a 2-1/2-year low versus the euro and world equity markets towards record highs.
* Japan’s prime minister defended a travel subsidy campaign that some medical groups and experts say has fuelled the third wave of coronavirus cases and said he would finalise the size of an economic stimulus package next week.
Source – Thomson Reuters Foundation.