(Reuters) -South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations, while New Zealand reported its first recorded death linked to U.S. drugmaker Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Health authorities in Brussels began offering COVID-19 jabs in supermarkets and shopping centres to increase vaccination rates in the capital that have not kept up with Belgium’s rapid inoculation roll-out.
* European Union governments have agreed to remove the United States from the EU’s safe travel list, meaning U.S. visitors and those from five other countries are likely to face tighter controls, such as COVID-19 tests and quarantines.
* Britain reported 26,476 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest number since Aug. 10, according to latest data.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said the government would adjust COVID-19 restrictions over the week Aug. 31 to Sept. 6 in response to a lower infection rate in more areas, officials said.
* Vietnam reported 14,224 coronavirus infections on Monday, a record daily increase.
* Intensive care cases in Australia’s New South Wales will hit a peak in October as infections accumulate, said the premier of the country’s most populous state.
* Japan has closed a school in the eastern city of Chiba for the rest of the week, after confirming infections in two teachers who accompanied students to watch the Paralympic Games.
AMERICAS
* An advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has unanimously recommended the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, an important step after it gained full U.S. approval last week.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations but are yet to establish whether it is more contagious or able to overcome the immunity provided by vaccines or prior infection.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said no deaths had been reported in young adults after a rare heart inflammation known as myocarditis, a known side effect of COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and Moderna.
* A COVID-19 booster shot is a way to keep the most vulnerable safe and not a luxury robbing people who have yet to have even a single jab, a senior World Health Organization official has said.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* U.S. and global equity benchmarks hit all-time highs on Monday, as the Federal Reserve appeared in no rush to step away from its massive stimulus, as U.S. oil prices edged higher in choppy trading. [MKTS/GLOB]
* France will rein in its crisis support measures for companies from the end of September and tailor them to benefit only those companies still struggling afterwards, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
(Compiled by Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
