Britain stood shut off from the rest of Europe on Monday after allies cut transport ties over fears of a new coronavirus strain, sowing chaos for families, truckers and supermarkets just days before the Brexit cliff edge. [nL8N2J117O]
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Europe’s medicines regulator will on Monday assess the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, with a green light putting Europe on course to start inoculations within a week.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain.
AMERICAS
* An advisory panel recommended U.S. frontline essential workers and people 75 and older should be next in line to get inoculated as the distribution of Moderna Inc’s vaccine, the second approved coronavirus vaccine, began across the country.
* The United States is monitoring the new strain of COVID-19 emerging in Britain, multiple U.S. officials said, adding that it was unclear whether the mutated variant had made its way to America.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he did not think the world’s rush for a vaccine was justified because the pandemic, in his view, was coming to an end.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* The Philippines expects to receive 30 million doses of Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine by July next year, its foreign minister said, boosting the country’s effort to secure supplies to inoculate more than 100 million people.
* South Korea’s capital Seoul and surrounding areas banned gatherings of more than four people over the Christmas and New Year holidays as the country recorded its highest daily death toll.
* Thailand’s prime minister called for calm and said there were no immediate plans for a wider lockdown after 382 new infections were confirmed, the majority linked to the country’s worst outbreak yet.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health granted emergency use authorisation for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and is due to receive the first shipment on Monday, state media reported.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The European Union has agreed to pay 15.50 euros ($18.90) per dose for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, an internal EU document reviewed by Reuters shows.
* Kazakhstan has started production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, while Belarus should begin the production in the first quarter of next year, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* European shares fell 2% on Monday, the dollar strengthened and market volatility surged amid growing unease over the economic impact of a new coronavirus strain in Britain which has seen several European countries shut their borders to the UK.
* U.S. congressional leaders reached agreement on a $900 billion package to provide the first new aid in months to an economy and individuals battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic, with votes likely on Monday.
* Japan’s cabinet approved a record $1.03 trillion budget draft for the next fiscal year starting in April 2021, as the coronavirus and stimulus spending put pressure on already dire public finances.
* A bipartisan legislative deal unveiled by U.S. lawmakers on Sunday will grant U.S. airlines $15 billion in new payroll assistance that will allow them to return more than 32,000 furloughed workers to payrolls through March 31, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
(Compiled by Jagoda Darlak and Aditya Soni; Editing by)
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