An independent panel of vaccine experts has reviewed data from Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine and will make public its recommendations on the vaccine’s use next Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Reuters reports that in an advisory to media about next week, the WHO said on Friday night: “The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization will make public its interim recommendations to WHO on the use of Moderna COVID-19 (mRNA-1273) vaccine. The recommendations have been agreed at the SAGE extraordinary meeting held on 21 January (Thursday).”
Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines, vaccines and pharmaceuticals, speaking to a WHO social media event on Wednesday, noted that the SAGE experts had issued recommendations for the use of the Pfizer vaccine in early January. “It is already meeting for another vaccine quite soon,” Simao said.
Western Australia is set to take down its border to Queensland and New South Wales on Monday, AAP reports.
Entry to WA will be permitted but two weeks of self-quarantine and a test will still be needed.
Further easing of restrictions is expected in coming weeks.
Good morning
Hello, and welcome to the Guardian’s global Covid-19 live blog for today. I’m Josh Taylor and I will be with you through the next few hours.
Here’s some of what has happened in the past 24 hours:
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson has warned the UK variant of Covid-19 could be 30% more deadly, making it much less likely restrictions will be eased any time soon.
- France registered a further 23,292 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 649 more deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, according to data from the country’s health ministry on Friday. France’s overall Covid-19 death toll stands at 72,647 – the seventh-highest in the world.
- After AstraZeneca confirmed initial deliveries to the EU of the Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with Oxford University would fall short of the targeted volumes because of a glitch in production, Austria has warned that any delay would be unacceptable.
- Germany has detected its first case of a newly discovered Brazilian coronavirus variant, feared to be particularly infectious, regional health officials in the state of Hesse have said, AFP reports.
- BioNTech is to supply 50 million specialty needles at no profit to countries struggling to extract a sixth dose from vials of its Covid-19 vaccine as Europe’s immunisation drive is held back by a temporary supply shortfall.
- Thousands of Hong Kongers will be ordered to stay in their homes for the city’s first coronavirus lockdown, local media have reported, as authorities battle an outbreak in one of its poorest and most densely packed districts.
- Epidemiologists in Greece are poised to recommend that junior and high schools reopen as the country’s coronavirus case load continues to drop.
- Portugal has reported 234 Covid-19 deaths, a record for the fifth day in a row. The country of 10 million people has reported 9,920 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
- The International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, has said the Olympic Games will go ahead in July despite a state of emergency being declared in Tokyo because of increasing Covid-19 cases.
- Dubai is keeping restrictions loose to preserve its reputation as a centre for trade, transport and tourism despite rising case numbers.
- Australia is eyeing its eighth straight day of no community transmission, with Victoria reporting no new locally acquired cases early on Saturday morning.
Let’s get started.
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