(Reuters) – People enrolled in the U.S. government’s Medicare program can get over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for free starting early spring, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Thursday.
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.
EUROPE
* Germany’s health experts are divided over whether the country is ready to ease COVID-19 restrictions as its neighbours start dialling back curbs.
* The cumulative total for confirmed COVID-19 cases in France since the start of the pandemic has passed 20 million, health ministry data showed.
* Austria’s upper house of parliament passed a bill to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for adults, bringing the European Union’s first such sweeping vaccine mandate a step closer.
AMERICAS
* American Express Co said on Thursday it would ask its New York employees to work from their offices at least once a week from next month. Bank of New York Mellon Corp is also asking its employees to return to office from March 7 in regions where conditions allow.
* The Canadian government will not use troops against truckers whose nearly week-long protest of vaccine mandates has brought traffic in central Ottawa to a halt, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australia could use its defence forces to help manage a COVID-19 outbreak in the aged-care sector that has stretched staffing and forced many homes into lockdowns, the prime minister said on Friday, as national infection numbers remained on a downtrend.
* A total of 21 new COVID-19 infections were found among Olympic Games-related personnel on Feb. 3, down from 55 a day earlier, Games organisers said ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony.
* South Korea extended COVID-19 social distancing rules on Friday for an additional two weeks as Omicron variant infections soar, including a 9 p.m. curfew for restaurants and a six-person limit on private gatherings.
* India’s death toll from COVID-19 crossed 500,000 on Friday, a level many health experts say was breached last year but obscured by inaccurate surveys and unaccounted dead in the hinterlands, where millions remain vulnerable to the disease.
* Malaysia kicked off a mass vaccination programme for children aged between 5 and 11.
* Hong Kong said it would extend a work-from-home plan for civil servants as health officials warned tougher measures could follow amid a worsening outbreak.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna Inc’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen’s top executive said.
* Saudi Arabia said citizens will be required to take the booster shot to be able to travel abroad starting Feb. 9, state media reported.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Novavax Inc said on Thursday its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine had received provisional approval from New Zealand’s medicines regulator for use in adults.
* Britain approved Novavax’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults, bringing a fifth coronavirus shot to the country amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant that has led to a spike in cases.
* The prices of drugs used to treat COVID-19 for those at risk of serious illness are “reasonably aligned” with how much they help patients, according to a draft report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian equity markets fought for a footing, supported by an Amazon-led bounce in U.S futures, but oil’s rise to a seven-year high kept traders on edge over prospects that interest rates will rise to curb global inflationary pressures. [MKTS/GLOB]
* U.S. job growth likely slowed sharply in January as COVID-19 infections lashed the nation, disrupting activity at high-contact business, a temporary setback to the labor market recovery that was already reversing at the end of the month.
(Compiled by Shailesh Kuber, Krishna Chandra Eluri and Juliette Portala; Editing by John Stonestreet, Nick Macfie and Arun Koyyur)
