Coronavirus digest: China approves first COVID-19 vaccine | News | DW

#China announced the approval of its first COVID-19 vaccine on #Thursday. The vaccine has been developed by state-owned pharmaceutical company #Sinopharm.

The approval of the inactivated, two-dose vaccine comes a day after #Sinopharm said it was found to be 79.3% effective in initial data from the final phase of testing.

#China plans to vaccinate up to 50 million people ahead of the #Lunar #New #Year holiday in #February, in order to prevent the virus from spreading during the festivities.

#Sinopharm is among the #Chinese developers that are in a global race to create vaccines to beat the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed close to 1.8 million lives around the world.

#Meanwhile, #December 31 marks exactly a year since DW first reported on the emergence of a mystery flu-like virus in #China. #Here’s a look at what happened next.

#Europe

#In herNew #Year’s speech on #Thursday, #Germany‘s chancellor #Angela #Merkel said the “historic” coronavirus crisis will extend into the coming year even if the vaccines bring some promise.

#She slammed the conspiracy theories advanced by COVID skeptics as false and dangerous, adding that they were also cynical and cruel towards the people who have suffered during the pandemic.

#Germany on #Thursday reported 32,552 new cases of coronavirus infections pushing the total tally to over 1.7 million cases.

#According to the latest figures from the #Robert #Koch #Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, the death toll increased by 964 to 33,071.

#Germany’s #Health #Minister #Jens #Spahn said this week that he can see no end in sight for the nationwide lockdown.

#Americas

The #United #States recorded its highest ever death toll from COVID-19 on #Wednesday with over 3,900 new deaths

The new figures come at a time when health workers in the country are preparing for a spike in the caseload after holiday gatherings.

The US is the worst-affected country in the world with more than 19.7 million infections and 341,000 deaths.

#Mexico has initiated a probe into allegations of abuse of power by a family to obtain shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, #President #Andres #Manuel #Lopez #Obrador said on #Wednesday.

The incident allegedly took place in a hospital in a western municipality of the capital and involves a doctor and his family, the president told the media.

#He urged people to report potential abuses in the country’s vaccine rollout.

#Mexico began its inoculation process with the first few thousand of the #BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine last week.

The country is helping to produce the #Oxford #University-AstraZeneca vaccine and has agreements to receive doses starting #March.

#In its first major vaccine deal, #Bolivia has reached an agreement with #Russia for doses of the #Sputnik V vaccine.

The #Russia #Direct #Investment #Fund (RDIF) on #Wednesday agreed to supply #Bolivia with enough of its two-dose vaccine to vaccinate 2.6 million people.

The #South #American nation, which also battled political and social instability alongside the pandemic, has been struggling to secure bilateral vaccine deals.

The government is looking to vaccinate up to 20% of its population in the first quarter of 2021 as part of the #World #Health #Organization’s COVAX initiative, which is aimed at ensuring the equitable distribution of vaccines.

#Brazil, meanwhile, is at the risk of not having enough syringes to roll out its vaccines.

The country’s syringe and needle makers on #Wednesday cautioned that the vaccination plan was in jeopardy as the government set auction prices too low and failed to draw bids for enough syringes.

The #Health #Ministry had set out to buy 331 million syringes at an auction on #Tuesday but purchased just 8 million after it set reference prices below the bids of the companies involved.

dvv / mm (AFP, AP, dpa, #Reuters)