March 5 (Reuters) – Italy said on Friday it would further tighten coronavirus restrictions in three of its 20 regions, while France reported the number of people in intensive care with the disease reached its highest level so far this year.
MALTA
UPDATE 1230 – Malta registered 345 new cases and one fatality in the past 24 hours. In the daily update on Covid-19.
People aged over 60 are next in line to be vaccinated, with health authorities now approving AstraZeneca jabs for those aged up to 70. Addressing the weekly briefing, Health Superintendent Prof Charmaine Gauci said that the next batch will cover a very large group of people so the invites will be sent out in batches and encouraged people not to call the Covid-19 helpline if they do not immediately receive one.
Persons aged 60 and 70 will be given the jab in parallel to those aged between 75 and 80, who will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna jab.
Some 90 per cent of those aged over 85 have already been vaccinated, while frontline workers, including teachers, university staff, water service and WasteServ employees are also getting the jab.
Gauci also explained that the majority of active cases, close to 2,000 were related to households, followed by social gatherings, with some 835 cases, with 552 from workplaces, 180 through school and university, and 39 from sports.
“What we’re seeing is what led to the measures we announced yesterday,” Gauci said.”We need to limit interaction to our own household, our own bubble. That’s the best way to protect ourselves. We are recommending that people do not invite others over to their homes but if they do, there is a maximum of four households.”
283 new cases of coronavirus were identified on Friday, with 156 persons recovering. This brings the number of active cases up to 3,252. 3,799 swab tests were carried out on Thursday. Until Thursday, under 90,000 doses were administered, a third of which were second doses. Three further fatalities took the death toll to 328.
EUROPE
* Switzerland unveiled a 1 billion Swiss franc ($1.08 billion) plan on Friday to offer free coronavirus tests for its entire population.
* More than 200,000 Russians diagnosed with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic began last April, more than double the widely cited figure used by the government’s coronavirus task force.
* Over 21 million people have now been given a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Britain, health authorities said on Friday.
* The Czech Republic has asked Germany, Switzerland and Poland to take in dozens of COVID-19 patients as the situation in its own hospitals has reached a critical point.
* One of Barcelona’s top music venues will hold a concert for 5,000 people later this month after no COVID-19 cases were reported at a pilot project using same-day testing.
* France will no longer require proof of a negative coronavirus test result from hauliers travelling directly from Ireland, citing very low positivity rates among commercial vehicle drivers.
* A variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain now accounts for 25% of the reported cases in Poland.
* Ukraine will impose financial penalties on the local pharmaceutical company Lekhim over delays in delivering Chinese-made Sinovac vaccines, adding a decision on approving Sinovac’s use was still pending.
AMERICAS
* Canada’s drug regulator has approved Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, the fourth such shot to be given the green light, amid frustration over the slow start to the country’s inoculation program.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Japan extended a state of emergency in the Tokyo area by two weeks to try to combat COVID-19, prompting a “heartfelt apology” by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
* China’s production capacity of COVID-19 vaccines could be sufficient for 40% of the population to have been vaccinated by mid-2021.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccine campaign, becoming the first nation in Africa to use pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s doses that require ultra-cold storage.
* Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda started inoculating frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens against COVID-19 on Friday.
* Mozambique expects to inoculate 16 million high-risk people against the coronavirus by 2022.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Europe’s medicines regulator said Eli Lilly’s antibody drug combination can be used to treat COVID-19 patients who do not require oxygen support and are at high risk of progressing to severe illness.
* Abbott Laboratories said the U.S. health regulator has granted emergency use authorization for its molecular test to detect and distinguish the coronavirus and two types of flu viruses with a single test.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* U.S. President Joe Biden said the latest job report shows job gains are too slow and his COVID-19 relief bill is urgently needed to boost the economy.
* The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to more than double the federal minimum wage over five years, as it launched what is expected to be a long debate over President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.
(Compiled by Amy Caren Daniel; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta)
