(Reuters) – Finance ministers from Asia-Pacific trade group APEC agreed to step up efforts to expand COVID-19 vaccine manufacture and supply, and support global vaccine sharing, host nation New Zealand said.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* As Latvia goes into lockdown and hospitals in Bulgaria and Romania buckle under a COVID-19 surge while Poland sells surplus vaccine doses, many central and eastern Europeans are torn between defiance and regret over not getting inoculated.
* A key measure of infections in Germany rose sharply over the past week, figures showed, raising the prospect of tougher restrictions as winter approaches.
* Russia reported yet more daily records of infections and deaths, with 37,141 new cases and 1,064 people dying in the past 24 hours.
* Swiss voters look set to support the government’s pandemic response plan in a binding referendum next month, a poll for broadcaster SRG showed.
* Ukraine attained a second successive daily record of new infections and deaths, the health ministry said, despite tighter curbs last month as infections have risen for weeks.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended the vaccine boosters for recipients of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots, and said Americans can choose a different shot from their original inoculation as a booster.
* The White House called on all World Trade Organization members to support an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* People should reduce travel across different provinces as China battles its latest outbreak, and tourism sites should limit traffic, the official Xinhua news agency cited vice premier Sun Chunlan as saying.
* Few are left to inoculate in Singapore after a vigorous campaign achieved a level of coverage envied by many nations, but a record surge in deaths and infections gives warning of risks that may still lie ahead.
* Tens of millions of Indian adults are unlikely to be fully vaccinated by the end of 2021, due to an unusually large gap between the doses of the most widely-used vaccine and growing complacency as cases fall.
* Melbourne residents flocked to the city’s pubs, restaurants and hair salons after the world’s most locked-down city emerged from its latest spate of restrictions.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* The pandemic hit Africa’s film industry hard, causing cinema shutdowns and production halts, but it also created new opportunities by boosting video-on-demand and streaming, participants in the continent’s premier film festival said.
* Iraq’s transportation ministry announced on Thursday a resumption of direct flights to and from Saudi Arabia after a 19-month suspension, according to the state news agency INA.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A booster dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech was 95.6% effective when compared to a vaccinated group that did not get the third shot, data from a large study released by the companies showed on Thursday.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Global shares got a tech boost to help tee up a third straight week of gains, despite growing inflation concerns, while the dollar dipped and oil prices bounced off their lows. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Growth in euro zone business activity slowed this month as firms faced soaring costs due to supply-chain constraints, while the bloc’s dominant service industry struggled amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns, a survey showed.
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