(Reuters) – The Euro 2020 soccer tournament was blamed for a surge in cases as fans have flocked to stadiums, bars and spectator zones across Europe to watch the action while the pandemic still raged.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Europe’s drug regulator said the vaccines approved in the European Union offered protection against all coronavirus variants, including Delta, but called for active monitoring by vaccine manufacturers to stay alert.
* Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was confident Britons fully vaccinated against COVID-19 would be able to travel abroad this year.
* A 10-week decline in new infections across Europe has come to an end and a new wave of infections is inevitable if citizens and lawmakers do not remain disciplined, the head of WHO in Europe, Hans Kluge, told a news briefing.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia will impose emergency measures until July 20 to contain an exponential spike in cases that has strained the medical system.
* Japan is considering an extension of two weeks to a month for coronavirus prevention measures in Tokyo and other areas, Japanese media said.
AMERICAS
* Bolivia’s government is looking to stabilize the country’s economy, which last year plunged the most in over half a century, with a mix of fiscal spending, vaccines and gold.
* Dominican health authorities will on Thursday begin distributing a third dose of vaccine in an effort to protect against more contagious new variants.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* The United States will begin shipping the first batch of vaccines it has donated to Africa from this weekend, a special envoy of the African Union said, as the continent sees a surge in cases fueled by variants.
* The South African Medical Association threatened to take the government to court because scores of new junior doctors cannot find work placements despite staff shortages during the pandemic.
* Police in Uganda have arrested two nurses and were hunting for a man who had posed as a doctor to sell and administer fake vaccines to hundreds of people, authorities said, amid a rising second wave of infections.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Indian drugmaker Zydus Cadila said it has applied for emergency use approval of its three-dose vaccine that showed efficacy of 66.6% in an interim study and could become the second home-grown shot if regulators consent.
* CureVac said its COVID-19 vaccine was 48% effective in the final analysis of its pivotal mass trial, only marginally better than the 47% reported after an initial read-out two weeks ago.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Global stock markets rose on strong European and U.S. shares on Thursday, with stocks brushing off a rapid re-acceleration in coronavirus cases and oil and the dollar extending their first-half rallies.
* Mexico’s factories deteriorated for a 16th straight month in June amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and local restrictions, though the pace of contraction was the slowest since the effects of the pandemic first hit Mexico, a survey showed.
* Turkey’s pandemic-era ban on layoffs and a government wage support system, both adopted in early 2020, expired as most remaining restrictions were also lifted, setting the stage for a rise in unemployment.
* The IMF’s executive board approved the second review of Jordan’s four-year reform program and commended it for meeting its fiscal targets despite the fallout from the coronavirus, the finance ministry said.
(Compiled by Federico Maccioni, Amy Caren Daniel and Jagoda Darlak; Edited William Maclean)
