(Reuters) – Hungary stole its march on other EU countries by starting to vaccinate its people against COVID-19 on Saturday, the day before launch in several other countries, including France, Germany and Spain, with the increase in pandemic on the continent.
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EUROPE
* The new variant of coronavirus linked to a rapid rise in infections in Britain was detected in Sweden after a UK traveler fell ill and tested positive, the Swedish Health Agency said on Saturday.
* Over 4,500 trucks, amid a massive accumulation of trucks stuck for days in the British port of Dover, crossed the Channel on Friday after extra troops were sent to intensify coronavirus testing, a minister said.
* Pope Francis in his Christmas message said that political and business leaders should not allow market forces and patent laws to take priority over making Covid 19 vaccines available to everyone, condemning nationalism and “the virus of radical individualism “.
* France recorded its first case of the new coronavirus variant as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths increased, raising concerns about a new wave of the virus reaching the eurozone’s second largest economy.
* Russia on Saturday approved its main COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, for use by people over 60, according to Russian news agencies quoted by the health ministry.
AMERICAS
* US states, facing a delay in administering coronavirus vaccines, are asking medical and nursing students, and even firefighters, to help deliver the vaccines and release health workers fighting a pandemic in hospitals overcrowded.
* The US government will require all airline passengers arriving from Britain to report negative results for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure, starting on Monday, amid concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus that can be more transmissible.
* Families across Mexico cut back on Christmas festivities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, while others spent the holiday alone after losing loved ones to the pandemic that killed more than 120,000 people in Mexico this year.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Japan said on Saturday it would temporarily ban non-resident foreigners from entering the country as of December 28, as it narrowed its borders after detecting a new highly infectious variant of the coronavirus.
* The Philippines approved measures on Saturday to slow the spread of new, more infectious variants of the coronavirus, as President Rodrigo Duterte warned of a second blockade if cases increase before the country receives its first vaccines in May.
* South Korea recorded the second highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Saturday as outbreaks in a prison, nursing homes and churches continued to grow, prompting authorities to plead for the suspension of all year-end meetings.
* Sydney residents have been encouraged not to go to the shops to bargain on Boxing Day, while those in some northern beach suburbs have prepared to re-enter a strict block for three days starting on Sunday, as the Australian city tries to stop an outbreak of coronavirus.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* A fire killed at least seven people and wounded several others on Saturday in a private hospital that treated coronavirus patients outside the Egyptian capital Cairo, local sources and the media said.
* Iran has extended night curfews to 330 low-risk cities in an effort to sustain a recent drop in the number of new coronavirus infections and deaths, state television reported on Saturday.
* Matron Annamarie Odendaal canceled all employee vacations at COVID-19 infirmary at the private Arwyp Medical Center in Johannesburg because a second wave of coronavirus threatens to overwhelm South Africa’s healthcare system.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd SVA.O in China has shown effectiveness between 50% and 90% in Brazilian tests, said the São Paulo state health secretary, and its Brazilian producer said that the complete results of the tests will be released on January 7. .
* Moderna Inc expects the immunity induced by its COVID-19 vaccine to be protective against the coronavirus variants reported in Britain.
* Brazilian researchers said that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech in China is more than 50% effective based on preliminary data, but has retained the full results of its final stage test again at the request of Sinovac.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Millions of unemployed Americans’ benefits expired on Saturday after President Donald Trump refused to sanction a $ 2.3 trillion coronavirus spending and aid package, protesting that it didn’t help ordinary people.
(Compiled by Charles Regnier, Aditya Soni and Krishna Chandra Eluri and Uttaresh.V; Editing by Mark Heinrich)