Coronavirus: Latest global developments

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Paris, Feb 26 (AFP/APP): These are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

– D-Day for one-shot jab –

US experts are voting on whether to give emergency approval to Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine, paving the way potentially for three million doses to ship next week. If given the green light, “we have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make it,” says US President Joe Biden.

– G20 plan kickstart –

Finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 countries — which account for 80 percent of world trade — meet to align plans to relaunch the global economy after the pandemic and limit harm to worst-off nations shut out of the race for vaccines.

– Pfizer chills out –

The US Food and Drug Administration says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines can be kept in normal pharmaceutical freezers for up to two weeks. Up until now they were required to be kept at ultra-cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 90 Fahrenheit), making distribution more difficult. Once thawed, vials can be stored in a fridge for five days.

– Japan eases measures –

Tokyo is ending a state of emergency early in some regions as infections slow, with less than five months to go before the pandemic-postponed Olympics are due to open there.

– HK and S.Korea start jabs –

Hong Kong and South Korea begin their vaccination campaigns, with the former British colony hoping to cover all adults by the end of the year, while Seoul aims to give shots to 70 percent of its population in seven months.

– Airline giant dives –

British Airways owner IAG — whose portfolio also includes Spain’s Iberia and Ireland’s Aer Lingus — reports a net loss of 6.9 billion euros ($8.4 billion) as air travel is decimated by the pandemic.

– Forced cremations end –

Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka drops its forced cremation of virus victims — which its Muslim minority saw as discriminatory — after a visit by Pakistani premier Imran Khan, who urged Colombo to respect their funeral rites. Experts say claims by influential Buddhist monks that burials could spread the virus through groundwater were baseless.

– 2.5 million deaths –

The virus has caused at least 2,508,786 deaths around the world since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources. The US has the heaviest toll with 508,314 deaths, followed by Brazil with 251,498, Mexico with 183,692, India 156,825 and the United Kingdom 122,070.

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