(Reuters) – With cases of the coronavirus soaring in Europe, U.S. authorities have warned against travel to a few countries while maintaining their strategy of focusing more on vaccinations back home ahead of the holiday season.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news
EUROPE
* French President Emmanuel Macron said violence in Guadeloupe over COVID-19 restrictions had created a “very explosive” situation, as a general strike entered a second week and many stores remained shuttered after nighttime looting.
* French Prime Minister Jean Castex, fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, has tested positive and is isolating himself.
* Health Minister Roberto Speranza said it will be possible for Italians to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster five months after completing the first vaccination cycle.
* The European Union’s drug regulator said it was evaluating data on booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson and a decision could come “within weeks” under a speedy review.
* Britain will review its COVID-19 travel rules in January and is looking at reforming its airport slots system as part of a wider new aviation strategy, minister Robert Courts said.
* Slovakia’s PM Eduard Heger is intensively considering a possible three-week lockdown, after Austria became on Monday the first country in western Europe to reimpose a lockdown since vaccines were rolled out.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department advised against travel to Germany and Denmark because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in those countries.
* U.S. health officials are not currently recommending lockdowns or economic restrictions to curb rising COVID-19 cases, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
* The White House confirmed on Monday that more than 90% of the 3.5 million federal employees covered by a presidential COVID-19 vaccine mandate had received at least one dose ahead of a Monday deadline.
* Canada is ending its pandemic-era policy of turning back asylum-seekers trying to cross into the country between ports of entry, according to a revised policy document released on Sunday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* The resumption of India supplying COVID-19 vaccines to the global COVAX vaccine-sharing platform after eight months was delayed on Monday when Nepal requested a postponement, two sources told Reuters.
* The IMF will audit $1.4 billion of additional funding it gave Pakistan in April 2020 to help the economy through the COVID-19 shock, the Pakistan government’s finance adviser Shaukat Tarin said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* A Kenyan government directive that residents must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 21 to access services was welcomed by some businesses on Monday but criticized by others, who said low vaccination rates made it unrealistic.
* Israel began rolling out Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccinations for 5-to-11-year-olds on Monday.
* The International Monetary Fund said the Algerian economy is gradually recovering from COVID-19 and oil shocks in 2020, after its executive board concluded the 2021 Article IV consultations with the North African country.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Pfizer said its vaccine provided strong long-term protection against the virus in a late-stage study conducted among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asia stocks were mostly lower, tracking a retreat on Wall Street after President Joe Biden picked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lead the central bank for a second term, reinforcing expectations the U.S. will taper its stimulus soon.
(Compiled by Uttaresh.V and Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Arun Koyyur)
