KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

Pos   /   Country   /   New Daily cases   /   Total Deaths   /        Daily Deaths /           Active Cases   /           Deaths/1M Pop.

               World    6,77,538              /             53,51,767            /             6,162     /             2,25,44,871        /             686.6

1             USA        1,23,643              /             8,24,274              /             867        /             1,01,94,486        /             2,469

2             UK          88,376   /             1,46,937              /             146        /             12,92,539            /             2,148

3             Germany              53,057   /             1,08,154              /             479        /             9,82,464              /             1,285

4             Russia    28,486   /             2,94,024              /             1,133     /             9,60,834              /             2,014

5             France   60,866   /             1,21,171              /             188        /             9,09,342              /             1,850

6             Netherlands        16,323   /             20,310   /             55           /             6,02,234              /             1,182

7             Belgium               11,851   /             27,729   /             44           /             4,86,110              /             2,378

8             Poland   22,097   /             90,306   /             592        /             4,51,611              /             2,390

9             Vietnam               15,270   /             28,857   /             241        /             3,99,919              /             293

10           Spain     28,900   /             88,667   /             48           /             3,68,432              /             1,895

11           Mexico  2,956     /             2,97,187              /             204        /             3,47,548              /             2,270

12           Turkey   18,100   /             79,863   /             167        /             3,25,632              /             932

13           Italy       26,109   /             1,35,301              /             112        /             3,17,930              /             2,243

14           Honduras             43           /             10,424   /                            /             2,45,479              /             1,029

15           Norway                /             1,202     /                            /             2,44,334              /             219

16           Czechia 11,625   /             34,923   /             45           /             2,43,481              /             3,252

17           Switzerland         5,226     /             11,920   /             1             /             2,37,738              /             1,363

18           Ukraine 9,590     /             92,313   /             355        /             2,11,019              /             2,129

19           South Africa       24,785   /             90,262   /             36           /             2,10,635              /             1,495

20           Brazil     3,720     /             6,17,395              /             47           /             1,73,228              /             2,875

28           India      7,817     /             4,76,478              /             186        /             87,245   /             340

68           Sri Lanka              758        /             14,698   /             21           /             16,528   /             682

75           Philippines           289        /             50,496   /             47           /             10,095   /             452

79           Pakistan               301        /             28,849   /             6             /             9,451     /             127

83           Bangladesh         257        /             28,041   /             3             /             7,404     /             168

C.D.C. RECOMMENDS OTHER COVID VACCINES OVER J.&J.’S SHOTS

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended Americans choose to receive one of two other authorised COVID-19 vaccines over Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) shot, due to rare but sometimes fatal cases of blood-clotting.

The CDC's move came after its Advisory Committee on Immunization voted unanimously to make the recommendation in favour of the vaccines made by Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech (22UAy.DE) over the J&J shot.

Fewer Americans have received the J&J shot than the other two vaccines by a significant margin. Out of more than 200 million fully vaccinated people in the United States, around 16 million received J&J's vaccine, according to CDC data.

J&J said in a statement that the safety and well-being of those who use their vaccine is its top priority and it looks forward to working with the CDC on the next steps.

Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which involves blood clots accompanied by a low level of platelets, have previously been reported in recipients of the J&J vaccine. The highest reporting rates are in women under 50.

The CDC said that the rate of such incidents is higher than previously estimated, both in women and men. The agency has identified more than 50 cases of TTS in the U.S., about 3.83 cases per million J&J doses administered.

At least nine people have died following the blood clotting incidents in the United States, the CDC has said.

Members of the panel also said J&J's vaccine is less effective in preventing COVID-19 than the other two authorized vaccines.

EUROPE TO RESTRICT TRAVEL FROM BRITAIN TO FIGHT OMICRON

Countries around the world began urging against foreign travel while ramping up domestic restrictions to battle Omicron, which scientists believe spreads faster than any other variant even if uncertainty remains over how dangerous it is.

France said on Thursday it would ban non-essential travel to and from Britain in a bid to curb the lightning spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which is forecast to quickly become the dominant risk for strained hospital systems worldwide.

Britain has seen case levels explode in recent weeks to record levels amid fears the variant could overwhelm the health system during Christmas dinners and parties.

Starting at midnight Saturday (2300 GMT Friday), the French government said, travellers will need “an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated... People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons.”

It added that French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK, but they will now need a negative COVID test less than 24 hours old, and a blanket quarantine will be enforced upon return to France.

The French move comes after Canada urged its citizens to avoid foreign travel over the Christmas holidays, saying the Omicron variant “makes us fear the worst”.

Sweden said it would require visitors from other Nordic nations to have a vaccine pass amid a jump in new infections in recent days.

At an EU summit in Brussels, tensions arose after Italy, Portugal and Greece said they would require people crossing their borders to have a negative Covid test as well as a vaccine passport.

OMICRON SPREAD: SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY 1 SYMPTOM THAT CONFIRMS PRESENCE OF VARIANT

The scientists across the globe are putting their heads together to understand the behaviour of Omicron, which is considered to be highly resistant to existing vaccines. So far, the results have shown that this new strain causes less severe Covid-19 symptoms, compared to early variants of the virus.

But those infected with Omicron have one symptom in common: Scratchy throat.

The chief executive of South Africa-based Discovery Health recently said at a briefing that doctors have noted a slightly different set of symptoms among those testing positive.

The most common early sign was a scratchy throat, said CEO Dr Ryan Noach, followed by nasal congestion, a dry cough and myalgia manifesting in lower back pain.

Most of these symptoms are mild, said Dr Noach, but stressed that this does not mean that Omicron is less virulent.

A leading British health expert also concurred with Dr Noach and said that preliminary data suggests Omicron is behaving “rather differently” as compared to previous strains of coronavirus.

“The symptoms people get from this particular virus are different to the previous variants,” Sir John Bell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, adding that stuffy nose, sore throat, myalgia and loose stools are the symptoms to look out for.

US CONGRESS PASSES IMPORT BAN ON CHINESE UYGHUR REGION

The Biden administration said on Thursday it is imposing new sanctions on several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies and government entities for actions in Xinjiang province, the latest step against Beijing over human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims.

The Commerce Department is targeting China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutes that focus on using biotechnology to support the Chinese military.

The move will bar American companies from selling components to the entities without a licence.

“The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives. Unfortunately, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is choosing to use these technologies to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. “We cannot allow U.S. commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to U.S. national security,” she said.

The official, explaining the Commerce Department actions, noted that U.S. intelligence has established that Beijing has set up a high tech surveillance system across Xinjiang that uses biometric facial recognition and has collected DNA samples from all residents, aged 12 to 65.

Meanwhile, the Senate gave approval on Thursday to a Bill barring all imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labour. The Bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.

PAKISTAN IS ‘BANKRUPT’, SAYS FORMER CHAIRMAN OF APEX TAX AUTHORITY

The former chairman of Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue Shabbar Zaidi has said that the country is “bankrupt” and it is better to recognise the reality than “living in illusion”. Zaidi — who was head of the apex tax authority from May 2019 to January 2020 — also called for transparency in the CPEC project, saying he himself had not yet fully understood what it was.

Addressing a seminar in Karachi on Wednesday, he said everyone in governance kept on saying that the country is running well.“They say we have achieved great success and we brought tabdeeli (change), but this is wrong. In my view, the country is, at the moment, bankrupt,” Zaidi said. As soon as his speech went viral, Zaidi on Thursday claimed his speech was being “misreported” and only a three-minute portion of it was “cherry-picked".

In another tweet later on Thursday, Zaidi said Pakistan's total foreign debt stood at over $115 billion. “When will we be able to pay that debt? It is better to recognise the reality than living in illusion. We need to have a reality check.”

PAKISTAN OPENS UPGRADED AIRPORT IN GILGIT-BALTISTAN

Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Thursday formally inaugurated the upgraded airport in Skardu to attract foreign tourists to the strategically located Gilgit-Baltistan region. India maintains that Pakistan has no locus standi on Gilgit-Baltistan. The MEA had earlier said that India “firmly rejects” the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory which is under Islamabad’s “illegal and forcible occupation”. Pakistan government decided on December 2 to upgrade the status of the domestic aerodrome in Skardu to an international airport.

‘THEY CAN GO TAKE A WALK’: IMF CLOSES ITS BRAZIL OFFICE AFTER GOVT CRITICISM

The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it will close its Brazilian office, a day after receiving harsh criticism from Economy Minister Paulo Guedes over its forecasts for Latin America's biggest economy.

The IMF said it would close its office in Brasilia when the current country representative's mandate expires on June 30, 2022.

The move came after Guedes, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's ultra-liberal economy guru, said the IMF was overly pessimistic in its forecasts on Brazil and was no longer welcome.

"They can go take a walk," he said Wednesday.

"They were here forecasting (Brazil's economy) would contract by 9.7 percent (in 2020) and Britain's would contract by four percent. In the end, we contracted by four percent, and Britain by 9.7 percent," he said.

He also accused IMF officials in the country of being more interested in "football and feijoada" -- a meat-and-bean stew that is one of Brazil's most famous attractions -- than in helping the economy.

RECORD 488 JOURNALISTS JAILED, 46 KILLED IN 2021, SAYS RSF

There are currently 488 media professionals imprisoned around the world, the highest number since Reporters Without Borders began counting more than 25 years ago, the NGO announced on Thursday.

By contrast, the number killed this year — 46 — was the lowest since it began issuing annual tallies, due to the relative stabilisation of conflicts in the West Asia.

China jails 127 scribes

China once again has the highest number of imprisoned journalists at 127, said RSF. The most dangerous countries were once again Mexico and Afghanistan, with seven and six journalist deaths respectively, followed by Yemen and India with four apiece.

The number of detained scribes has risen by some 20% over the past year, largely due to crackdowns on the media in Myanmar, Belarus and Hong Kong. RSF said it had also never seen so many female journalists detained, with the overall number of 60 representing a third more than 2020.

IRAN: NO NUCLEAR IMAGES FOR IAEA UNTIL CURBS END

The UN atomic watchdog will not be able to examine camera images from a nuclear facility near Iran’s Karaj until sanctions are lifted, an Iranian official said on Thursday. The comment came a day after Tehran and the IAEA said they had reached deal on replacing the cameras at the facility which makes centrifuges.

Iran says the video surveillance cameras were damaged in a June attack that it blames on Israel. “The cameras will be installed in a way that they take images which will be stored in the cameras’ memory,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran. “When they are full, the memory cards will be removed and placed under the joint control of Iran and the Agency,” he said. “In other words, the Agency will not have any access to the information before sanctions are lifted.”

META TO BUILD ITS LARGEST DATA CENTRE IN NETHERLANDS' ZEEWOLDE

The town of Zeewolde, 50km east of Amsterdam, on Thursday approved plans by Meta to build the largest data centre in the Netherlands from which Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp can serve users all over Europe.

The facility, which will use 1.38GWh of electricity and cover 166 hectares (410 acres) of farmland, is expected to run on green energy and provide the local economy a boost but has been criticised by some politicians and environmental campaigners.

While the country's previous economic affairs ministry lobbied to attract data centres to the Netherlands, including major facilities by Google and Microsoft that also run on renewable energy, politicians have recently begun questioning whether the number and placement of data centres should be determined by the national government.

"Hyperscale data centres place an unreasonably large demand on the available renewable energy in relationship to their societal or economic value," the parties forming Prime Minister Mark Rutte's new government wrote in their governing pact published a day ahead of the Zeewolde council vote.

"We will be sharpening the national coordination and admissions criteria for licensing."

Hendrik Visser, a council member for the VVD Party, acknowledged that there were drawbacks to having a large centre in the town, but said the benefits were greater for general development of the town.

US FDA PERMANENTLY ALLOWS MAIL-ORDER ABORTION PILLS

US drug regulators have approved mail-order abortion pills, making permanent a temporary rule change that was approved this year during the pandemic.

The decision from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will open abortion access to women in remote places unable to visit clinics to get them in person.

But the move will be overridden by 19 states that already have rules banning mail-order abortion pills.

It comes as judges consider overturning the ruling that legalised US abortion.

The medication, mifepristone, is approved for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, and is one of two pills used to end pregnancy and treat miscarriage.

Restrictions on the drug, which was first approved in 2000, were lifted earlier this year due to pandemic lockdown measures.

The change is now permanent, allowing women to receive the pill by post from a certified medical worker or pharmacy and receive abortion consultations on the internet.

"The FDA's decision will come as a tremendous relief for countless abortion and miscarriage patients," said Georgeanne Usova of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).