Moderna Inc has agreed to supply its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the United Kingdom starting from the beginning of March, while India pinned its hopes on five locally-tested vaccines.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser.
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Spain is in a "very advanced phase" of negotiations to buy vaccines developed by Moderna, a government spokeswoman said.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested negative for COVID-19 but will continue to self-isolate according to government guidance.
* Scotland's first minister said that 11 areas including the city of Glasgow would be moved into the country's highest level of restrictions.
* The number of new cases in the Netherlands declined by around 15% over the past week, but its prime minister was expected to announce few changes to the current lockdown measures.
* Many EU governments oppose common rules on the use of rapid COVID-19 tests, an internal document seen by Reuters says.
AMERICAS
* Due to high demand and tight supplies, U.S. hospitals may limit use of a new Eli Lilly and Co antibody drug to COVID-19 patients with multiple risk factors or to those whose immune systems have not begun to fight the infection.
* Pfizer said it was starting a pilot program in the United States for COVID-19 immunization, as more states and local jurisdictions re-imposed tough restrictions.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* As New Delhi battles its worst phase in the pandemic, Indian authorities draw up plans to reinstate some curbs, such as lockdowns of some markets, if necessary, although elsewhere in the nation new infections are falling.
* Indonesia's push for mass vaccinations faces a delay after its food and drugs agency warned it will not be able to give emergency authoritisation until late January.
* The president of the International Olympic Committee said that athletes would not be forced to get COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Beirut's popular Sabra market teemed with shoppers this week, some of them unmasked, in apparent defiance of a full national lockdown imposed on Saturday.
* The International Monetary Fund said it had approved a $52.3 million rapid credit facility to South Sudan to help it limit the economic damage of the pandemic.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* German biotech firm CureVac is building a network with partners to allow it to ramp up manufacturing of its experimental vaccine so it can produce up to 300 million doses in 2021 and up to 600 million in 2022.
* India and China may start producing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to the RIA news agency.
* Moderna's experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said.
* An experimental vaccine developed by West China Hospital has entered a mid-stage human test.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* World stock markets grabbed a well-earned breather after a second major vaccine boost in the space of a week again propelled them higher and put Europe on course for its best month in nearly three decades. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Major food-producing countries are growing increasingly frustrated with China's scrutiny of imported products and are calling on it to stop aggressive testing for the coronavirus, which some say is tantamount to a trade restriction.
* The European Central Bank should cancel Italian government debt related to the health emergency that it owns, Italy's co-ruling 5-Star Movement said in a blog post.
(Compiled by Milla Nissi and Linda Pasquini; Editing by Gareth Jones)
