Coronavirus: Latest Global Developments

Coronavirus: Latest global developments

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - US tightens borders - President Joe Biden re-imposes a travel ban on most non-US citizens who have been in Britain, Brazil, Ireland and much of Europe and extends the ban to South Africa.

- Mexico president infected - Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is infected but says his symptoms are mild and that he feels optimistic.

- Quarter billion jobs lost - The UN's International Labour Organization says the pandemic took a "massive" toll on the global labour market last year with the equivalent of more than a quarter of a billion jobs lost.

- Australia approves Pfizer - The Pfizer jab becomes the first vaccine to get the green light in Australia with doses expected in late February.

- Pasteur drops out - France's Pasteur Institute is abandoning its vaccine project saying the first trials had showed it was "less effective than hoped." - S. Africa strain in N. Zealand - New Zealand's first case in more than two months has been identified as the South African variant. The woman who had been in Europe tested positive 10 days after completing two weeks in isolation.

- Russian influencer ban - Russian social media star Serkey Kosenko is kicked out of Bali and banned from returning for at least six months for holding a party that broke virus rules.

- 'The inequality virus' - In a report entitled "The inequality virus", Oxfam says the pandemic marks the first time since records began that inequality is rising in virtually every country at the same time.

- FFP2 masks mandatory - Austria is among the first European countries to make FFP2 masks mandatory, with medical-grade masks now required for those over 14 on public transport and in shops, hospitals and medical practises.

- Virtual Davos - Chinese President Xi Jinping opens a virtual edition of the World Economic Forum known as Davos, referring to the Swiss ski resort where the annual summit usually takes place.

Following the virtual session which runs till Friday, Davos will move in May to Singapore for health and safety reasons, as the city-state has recorded just 29 Covid-19 deaths.

- Hong Kong lockdown lifted - Hong Kong lifts its first neighbourhood lockdown after officials who went door to door to test some 7,000 people found just 13 cases.

- Clinical trial - A major clinical trial in Canada shows an inexpensive anti-inflammatory drug called colchicine can reduce the risk of complications and death from the virus.

- Nearly 100 million cases - At least 2,129,368 people have died of coronavirus since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

More than 99,144,232 cases of coronavirus have been registered.

The US has suffered the highest death toll with 419,220 fatalities, followed by Brazil with 217,037 and India with 153,470.

The number of deaths globally is broadly under-estimated. The toll is calculated from daily figures published by national health authorities and does not include later revisions by statistics agencies.