(Reuters) – A major British study into mixing COVID-19 vaccines has found that people had a better immune response when they received a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots followed by Moderna nine weeks later, according to the results.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Britain’s health minister said there is now community transmission of the Omicron variant across regions of England.
* France will close nightclubs ahead of Christmas and tighten social distancing measures in response to the Omicron variant, but there is no need for new lockdowns or curfews, Prime Minister Jean Castex said.
* The Czech government will order vaccinations for people working in hospitals and nursing homes as well as police officers, soldiers and some other professions and all citizens aged 60 and older.
AMERICAS
* New York City expanded its array of COVID-19 mandates, setting vaccine requirements for children as young as 5 years old and for private-sector workers as the highly transmissible Omicron variant pushes into more U.S. states.
* A South African crew member suspected of having the Omicron variant is among the 17 cases of the virus detected on a cruise ship that disembarked in New Orleans over the weekend.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* New Zealand will not be sending diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said, citing COVID-19 as the reason.
* Some children in the Philippines’ capital Manila returned to school after a near two-year suspension as the country tries to get life back to normal.
* India’s cases of the Omicron variant rose to 21 over the weekend, officials said, while Nepal and Thailand detected their first cases.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Namibia has detected the Omicron variant in 18 of 19 samples sequenced between Nov. 11 and Nov. 26.
* Nigeria criticised Britain’s decision to add the country to a travel “red list” due to coronavirus concerns as unjust and not driven by science.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENT
* The World Health Organization advised against using the blood plasma of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat those who are ill, saying current evidence shows it neither improves survival nor reduces the need for ventilators.
* Merck & Co announced a deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific to manufacture its experimental COVID-19 pill at the medical device maker’s site in Whitby, Ontario.
* The World Bank said its funding had helped deliver 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world and it would reach the 150-million mark by the end of the month, if doses arrive as expected.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday on receding worries about the impact of the Omicron variant while Chinese markets gained after the central bank there eased monetary policy. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Japan’s household spending posted an annual drop for the third straight month in October.
(Compiled by Devika Syamnath and Shailesh Kuber; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)
