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Reuters
London, United Kingdom ●
Mon, July 19, 2021
Executives of the Asia-Pacific business group APEC, including US President Joe Biden, Russian Vladimir Putin and Chinese Xi Jinping, pledged to work to expand the sharing and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines to fight the global pandemic .
ASIA PACIFIC
* Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games sponsor Toyota will not be showing Games-related TV commercials due to lack of public support for the Olympics, with two-thirds of Japanese doubting it would be possible to host the Games in safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported.
* Indonesia’s central bank is likely to keep its key interest rate at an all-time high this week, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, as policymakers focus on supporting Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Is in the midst of the country’s most serious COVID-19 outbreak to date.
Also read: Almost half of Jakartans could have had COVID-19, according to serological survey
* Australian authorities said on Monday that the state of Victoria will extend the COVID-19 lockdown beyond Tuesday despite a slight drop in new infections as the country’s two largest cities fight to stop the spread of the variant highly infectious from the Delta.
* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approval ratings have fallen to their lowest level in more than a year, a poll released on Monday found, as a slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine shook voters’ confidence in his conservative government.
* South Korea will extend stricter COVID-19 restrictions on private gatherings outside the Seoul metropolitan area as the country struggles to contain its worst outbreak, its prime minister said on Sunday.
* Nigerian Olympic delegate became first Tokyo Games visitor admitted to hospital with COVID-19, TV broadcaster Asahi said on Friday, as Japan battles to stem the rise in local infections a week before the flagship event begins.
* China has funded the establishment of an APEC fund to fight COVID-19 and fuel economic recovery, President Xi Jinping said at a virtual meeting of the Asia trade group on Friday. -Pacific, according to Xinhua Press Agency.
EUROPE
* UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak will both self-isolate under national guidelines, dropping heavily criticized plans to participate in a pilot program that would have allowed them to continue working.
* Prime Minister Boris Johnson ends more than a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England on Monday, urging the public to remain cautious but trusting vaccines to protect the country even as infections rise.
Read also: Rush for vaccines as the French government tightens the screws
* More than 100,000 people marched across France on Saturday to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to force vaccination of health workers and demand a free COVID-19 certificate to enter places such as restaurants and cinemas.
AMERICAS
* Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chairman Neel Kashkari said many U.S. economic sectors were facing rapid price hikes and struggling to adjust to reopening after the shutdown.
* Facebook defended itself on Saturday against US President Joe Biden’s claim that the social media platform is “killing people” by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to proliferate, saying the facts tell a different story.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Nearly 50 African countries will receive 25 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States, said U.S. officials and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. health regulator will consider the request by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE for full approval of their COVID-19 vaccine in people 16 and older by January, the companies said.
Read also: United States helps fight pandemic with vaccine donations
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian stocks slipped to a one-week low on Monday, and assets seen as a safe haven, including the yen and gold, edged up amid fears of rising inflation and a coronavirus cases soar, while oil prices have fallen amid oversupply concerns.
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