Europe rushed to bulk buy more coronavirus vaccine doses and approved more drugs on Friday, as the World Health Organisation called on wealthy nations not to hog all the available jabs and millions in Asia faced tough restrictions over isolated outbreaks.

The pandemic has already killed 1.9 million people out of 88 million infections and is picking up speed, with 14 percent more cases reported globally per day this week compared to the previous seven days, according to an AFP count.

As the world races for vaccines, the European Union said it had agreed an option for a further 300 million jabs from Pfizer/BioNTech, doubling its supply of the drug.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would have "more than enough" doses for its entire population thanks to the new deal as well as forthcoming approvals of other vaccines including a jab developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Britain, freshly departed from the EU, approved its third vaccine on Friday from US firm Moderna, keeping ahead of its neighbours in terms of vaccines available and numbers inoculated.

But the WHO urged rich countries to stop cutting their own deals with manufacturers to snap up the first wave of vaccines, potentially bumping up the price for everyone else.

"No country is exceptional and should cut the queue and vaccinate all their population, while some remain with no supply," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, pushing wealthier countries to free up excess doses for the globally-shared Covax programme.

Bruce Aylward, the WHO lead on Covax, said that "50 percent of the high-income countries in the world are vaccinating today. Zero percent of the low-income countries are vaccinating. That is not equitable."

- New strain fears -

Despite nearly a year of intermittent restrictions across the globe, many countries are still recording record coronavirus numbers, including Britain which on Friday announced new highs of 1,325 deaths and 68,053 cases over 24 hours.

"The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically," London Mayor Sadiq Khan said, declaring a "major incident" in the capital.

Fears have been rising over new Covid-19 variants feared to be more transmissible that emerged in Britain and South Africa, but BioNTech brought some relief on Friday, saying its vaccine was effective against a "key mutation" found in the strains.

Romania became the latest country to confirm a case of the UK strain, in a 27-year-old woman who had not recently left the country, suggesting the variant had been in the country for some time.

Australia locked down its third-largest city Brisbane after detecting a single infection of the UK strain, with officials having to urge people to stop panic-buying as large queues formed outside shops.

"I don't think a three-day lockdown is going to hurt us at all. I think it's imperative to stamp out the virus," said resident Andy McPhee, 51.

China, where the original coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, meanwhile sealed off two cities and imposed travel restrictions on 18 million people after uncovering 127 cases.

"I am more worried than before," said Wu Xi, a medical worker in Shijiazhuang, the northern city at the heart of the new outbreak. "But I still believe the outbreak will be contained very soon. Stay strong."

Africa was spared the worst of the pandemic's first wave, but has seen a sharp surge in recent weeks, with Senegal recording its highest death and infections figures -- eight and 296, respectively -- on Friday.

At a hospital Nigerian megacity Lagos, managing director Ngozi Onyia likened the surge in cases to a "tsunami".

"I'm making tough calls -- who to take into the treatment centre, who to put on one of our four ventilators -- ethical decisions I've never had to make in 38-plus years," she said.

Greece meanwhile said it would extend its strict anti-virus measures until January 18.

- US 'travesty' -

In the United States, where hospitals in some areas are under intense pressure as the death toll soars, President-elect Joe Biden slammed the outgoing administration's distribution of Covid-19 vaccine as a "travesty."

In Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll after the US, two vaccine makers -- China's Sinovac and AstraZeneca/Oxford -- applied for approval for their jabs.

Belgium meanwhile said it hopes to start inoculating its general population from June.

Iran stood out as a rare country turning away vaccine doses -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned the import of American and British-produced vaccines, saying they were "completely untrustworthy".

In Sweden, which has controversially relied on mostly non-coercive measures, the parliament passed a law giving the government stronger new powers to fight the virus.

Neighbouring Denmark announced it would only allow flights into the country if every passenger had tested negative for Covid-19.

And there was relief in Spain, where a baby -- three-month-old Petru -- left the hospital after spending nearly all his short life fighting Covid-19.

Chinese, Oxford vaccines seek regulatory approval in Brazil
Sao Paulo (AFP) Jan 8, 2021 - The makers of two Covid-19 vaccines, one from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac and the other from Britain's Oxford University, filed the first applications Friday for regulatory approval in hard-hit Brazil, officials said.

Federal health regulator Anvisa now has 10 days to respond to the applications, though it said that could include asking the sponsors for more information.

One application was submitted by the Butantan Institute, a public health center in Sao Paulo that is working with Sinovac to test and produce its CoronaVac vaccine.

The other was from the Fiocruz Foundation, which is based in Rio de Janeiro and is working with Oxford and its partner, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, in a similar partnership.

The applications came a day after officials announced CoronaVac had shown effectiveness of 78 percent in clinical trials in Brazil, news that Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria called "historic."

Sinovac has not yet released worldwide results from the final stage of clinical trials, which are also being carried out in Chile, Indonesia and Turkey.

For the Oxford vaccine, results published in December found it was 62 percent effective for volunteers given two full doses and 90 percent effective for those given a half dose followed by a full dose.

CoronaVac and the Oxford vaccine both appear to be short of the more than 90 percent effectiveness reported for the vaccines from US pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna.

The CoronaVac and Oxford vaccines have been caught up in a political battle in Brazil between Doria and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, likely opponents in presidential elections next year.

The federal government initially passed on CoronaVac, which Bolsonaro derided as "Joao Doria's Chinese vaccine."

But after struggling to secure enough doses for Brazil's population of 212 million, the health ministry announced Thursday it had signed a deal with the Butantan Institute for 100 million doses of the vaccine for use nationwide.

Brazil has the second-highest death toll in the pandemic, after the United States, with more than 200,000 people killed by Covid-19.

The government has yet to set a start date for its vaccination campaign. The delay has drawn scathing criticism from Bolsonaro opponents.

Jordan approves China's Sinopharm Covid vaccine
Amman (AFP) Jan 9, 2021 - Jordan said on Saturday it has approved China's Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, after giving the Pfizer-BioNTech jab the green light.

"Emergency use of the... Sinopharm vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been authorised," the head of the Jordanian Food and Drug administration, Nizar Mheidat, told state television.

"It is the second vaccine available for use in Jordan, after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine," which Jordan approved in December, he told Al-Mamlaka television.

Health ministry Secretary-General Wael Hayajneh said the first batch of Sinopharm would arrive at midnight Saturday, while an initial consignment of the Pfizer vaccine was due on Monday.

"The kingdom has requested several hundred doses of (Sinopharm) and they will arrive in weekly batches," Hayajneh told Al-Mamlaka television.

Jordan also expects to receive at least 200,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the first quarter of this year, he added.

The country hopes to start its vaccination campaign in the coming days, Hayajneh said, adding that around 200,000 people have registered for inoculation.

The campaign is expected to initially target 20-25 percent of Jordan's population of 11 million, according to officials.

Health Minister Nazir Obeidat said late last month that the kingdom had ordered a million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.

He also said that Jordan hoped to access 650,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine through the global Covax programme, and that the country had an agreement with US group Johnson & Johnson.

China's Sinopharm says its vaccine is 79 percent effective.

The health minister said in November that vaccines would be distributed free of charge to Jordanians and foreign residents.

The Hashemite kingdom has officially registered more than 305,000 novel coronavirus cases and nearly 4,000 deaths.

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Egypt approves Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine
Cairo (AFP) Jan 3, 2021
Egypt has approved the use of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm with its rollout to start later in January, the health minister said. "The Egyptian pharmaceutical authority approved on Saturday the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine," Hala Zayed said late Saturday, on the local MBC Masr channel. The first batch of the vaccine was delivered in December, with further doses expected this month. "The second shipment of this vaccine is due to arrive in the second or third week ... read more