Coronavirus: Latest global developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

– Brazil approves two vaccines

Brazil’s Anvisa health regulator gives emergency approval for its first two coronavirus vaccines as the country gears up for a mass inoculation campaign while facing a devastating second wave of the virus.

It authorises AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s Covishield shot and China’s CoronaVac for use in a nation where the Covid-19 death toll now exceeds 209,000.

– India campaign off to fast start

India has given more than 224,000 people their first jabs, with just three people hospitalised for side effects, the health ministry says.

Authorities have given emergency-use approval for two jabs — Covishield, a version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Indian-made Covaxin, which has yet to complete its Phase 3 trials.

– Spain administering 2nd dose

Spain has already started giving a second dose to people on the priority list who received their first shot in December.

– Austria extends lockdown

Austria, currently in its third national lockdown, says the current curbs will be extended by another two weeks until February 8 in face of a rise in infections and the spread of virus variants believed to be much more contagious.

– Deadly outbreak at Belgian care home –

Three residents die at a Belgian retirement home and 111 people including 39 staff members are confirmed as infected with the UK variant of the virus. The cluster represents two-thirds of the home’s residents.

– Israel to vaccinate Palestinian prisoners

The Israel Prison Service says it has begun vaccinating all incarcerated people against Covid-19, including Palestinians, following calls from rights groups, Palestinian officials and Israel’s attorney general.

Israel has given at least one vaccine dose to more than two million of its citizens, a pace widely described as the world’s fastest per capita.

– More Australia Open players quarantined

Another 25 players will have to spend two weeks in quarantine before the Australian Open, after a fellow passenger on a flight from Doha tests positive.

They will join 47 players already confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days in Melbourne.

– More than 2 million dead

More than 2,024,656 have died from the virus across the world, with nearly 95 million cases recorded, according to an AFP tally based on official sources at 1930 GMT Sunday.