(Reuters) – * Pfizer Inc’s oral COVID-19 therapy will be evaluated as a potential treatment for patients hospitalised with the illness in a major British trial, scientists said on Monday, as cases rise in some parts of the world
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
AMERICAS
* Canadian vaccine maker Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine, approved last month in Canada, is facing limited growth in the near-term after the World Health Organization said it would not review the vaccine because the company is partly owned by U.S.-Swiss tobacco company Philip Morris, health experts say.
* The U.S. Supreme Court granted a request by President Joe Biden’s administration to let the Navy decline to deploy SEALs and other special operations forces personnel who refused mandatory COVID-19 vaccination due to religious objections.
EUROPE
* Italy reported 30,710 COVID-19 related cases on Monday, against 59,555 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths rose to 95 from 82.
* French health authorities said on Monday the number of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours jumped by 467 to 21,073, the highest daily rise since Feb 1.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for COVID-19 but feels well and will work while self-isolating at home, his office said on Monday.
* China’s financial hub of Shanghai launched a two-stage lockdown of its 26 million residents on Monday, closing bridges and tunnels and restricting highway traffic in a scramble to contain surging COVID-19 cases.
* Hong Kong said on Sunday it is shortening the ban on airlines that are found to have carried three or more passengers who test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival, as the number of local cases continues to ease from its peak.
* U.S. automaker Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for four days after the city announced on Sunday night it would lock down in two stages to carry out mass testing for COVID 19, two people familiar with the matter said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Senior citizens who received a second booster of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had a 78% lower mortality rate from the disease than those who got one, a study from Israel showed on Sunday.
* The U.S. health regulator said on Friday the current authorised dose of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s antibody-based COVID-19 treatment is unlikely to be effective against the Omicron BA.2 variant.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* U.S. Treasury yields paused their ascent on Monday as oil prices skidded by more than $8 over fears of weaker Chinese demand, while the yen suffered its biggest daily fall since 2020 as Japan’s central bank stood in the way of higher yields [MKTS/GLOB]
* Brazil’s real fell more than 1% on Monday, leading declines across emerging market currencies, as a coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai spurred worries about Chinese demand for commodities
* China will soon roll out measures to make it easier for private companies to issue bonds, China’s securities regulator said late on Sunday, as a resurgence in coronavirus infections threatens an already slowing domestic economy.
* Profit growth at China’s industrial firms accelerated in January-February in line with other signs of momentum in the economy, although the outlook clouded by COVID-19 outbreaks and the war in Ukraine is stoking calls for supportive measures.
* The crude oil market heads into another week of uncertainty, buffeted on one side by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the expansion of COVID-related lockdowns in China, the world’s largest crude importer.
(Compiled by Alexander Kloss and Rashmi Aich; Edited by Bill Berkrot)
