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With the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, the UK has been under a national shutdown since January 5.
The UK government is hoping to meet its COVID-19 vaccine deployment target and be able to consider easing lockdown restrictions by March, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.
The coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of slowing down globally, with infections exceeding 94 million and more than two million deaths, with Europe among the hardest-hit regions in the world.
On Saturday, the number of infections in the United States – the worst-affected country – climbed to more than 23.7 million with nearly 400,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
In India, a COVID-19 vaccination campaign has successfully started with more than 190,000 people receiving their first injections and no one has been hospitalized for major side effects.
Here are the latest updates:
Pakistan approves Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
Pakistan’s planning minister said the country’s drug regulatory authority has approved the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and that the government is trying to make it available by the first quarter of the year. year.
Asad Umar, who is also the head of the national agency for COVID-19, told a local news channel Geo TV that the vaccine in the first phase would be given to health workers and people aged 65 and over. years and older.
Umar said Chinese company CanSino is also running clinical trials in Pakistan and hopes its vaccine will be registered next month as well.
Pfizer reassures Europe on coronavirus vaccines as pandemic escalates
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has tried to allay concerns in Europe over shipments of its coronavirus vaccine.
Concerns have grown that delays in the delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech injections could hamper the deployment of a European vaccine that has already come under heavy criticism across the continent.
Work is underway at the Pfizer plant in Belgium to increase capacity, and the company and its German partner BioNTech said on Saturday that this would allow them to “significantly” increase vaccine production in the second quarter.
UK hopes to meet COVID-19 vaccine deployment target
The UK, which has the highest death toll from COVID-19 in Europe, has been under a nationwide lockdown since January 5, when schools were closed for most students, non-essential businesses were closed in public and people were ordered to work from home when possible. .
“What we want to do is get out of this national lockdown as soon as possible,” Foreign Minister Dominic Raab told Sky News television.
“In early spring, hopefully by March, we’ll be able to make those decisions. I think it’s fair to say that we won’t do all of this all at once. As we phase out the national lockdown, I think we’ll end up taking a tiered approach. “
Chinese city reports coronavirus on ice cream
The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of boxes of the same lot.
Daqiaodao Food Co, Ltd. in Tianjin, near Beijing, has been sealed and its employees tested for coronavirus, according to a city government statement. There was no indication that anyone had contracted the ice cream bug.
Most of the 29,000 boxes in the lot had not yet been sold. The government said 390 products sold in Tianjin were being researched and authorities elsewhere had been notified of sales in their areas.
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