 | | | | (Reuters) -Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: | | | | | | Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, developer of the first Russian vaccine against COVID-19, said on Wednesday it would no longer give placebos to volunteers in its large-scale final-stage trials for the Sputnik V shot, RIA news agency reported. | | | | | | All members of Ireland's cabinet are restricting their movements while awaiting COVID-19 tests after an unnamed minister contracted the virus, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. | | | | | | (Reuters) -Pfizer Inc will supply the United States with 100 million additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by July next year, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday. | | | | | | TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's EVA Airways Corp sacked a New Zealand pilot on Wednesday whom the government has blamed for the island's first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since April 12 because he failed to follow disease prevention rules. | | | | | | Merck & Co said on Wednesday it will supply about 60,000-100,000 doses of its COVID-19 treatment to the U.S. government for up to about $356 million. | | | | | | A new variant of the novel coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in Britain appears to have infected two students who returned to Hong Kong from the UK, Hong Kong's Department of Health said on Wednesday, as the city secured 22.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. | | | | | | The Czech government will close non-essential shops, services and ski lifts and enforce a stricter curfew from Sunday as it seeks to curb another rise in COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations, Health Minister Jan Blatny said on Wednesday. | | | | | | As U.S. industries push for their workers to receive early access to COVID-19 vaccines, local health departments and pharmacies face the challenge of verifying the identity of essential workers to ensure no one cuts the line. | | | | | | As 2020 closes, regulatory approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes the world can defeat the pandemic next year. But production and delivery challenges suggest beating the disease will be a marathon whose finish line is still far away. | | | | | | Nadeen Bender stood outside her home, a tattered two-man tent, surrounded by the re-purposed Amazon Prime boxes she uses to store her life's belongings. One by one, she checked the cartons to make sure nothing had been stolen in the night. | | | | | |
