The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States approached 250,000 on Wednesday, the day after the country recorded the highest number of victims in nearly four months, a chilling sign for a healthcare system already struggling to cope.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech could secure emergency U.S. and European authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed it had a 95% success rate and no serious side effects, the drugmakers said on Wednesday.
Vaccinating 20% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean against COVID-19 will cost more than $2 billion but low income countries will be helped by the COVAX Facility led by the World Health Organization, its regional branch said on Wednesday.
The number of reported global daily deaths from the coronavirus stood at 10,816 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest single-day death count as the virus's global epicenter the United States entered winter.
Governments and officials are voicing hopes that COVID-19 vaccines could bring "herd immunity", with some calculating that immunising just two-thirds of a population could halt the pandemic disease and help protect whole communities or nations.
U.S. and European regulators could approve Pfizer and BioNTech's experimental COVID-19 vaccine as early as mid-December, the German firm's chief executive said on Wednesday, following the release of positive trial results.
English doctors are grappling with the prospect of seven-day service, -75 degree Celsius freezers and vaccines known as "Talent" and "Courageous" as they prepare for an unprecedented logistical challenge: the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations.
The European Commission recommended on Wednesday the use of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests mostly on people already showing symptoms because it said the kits were deemed less accurate in detecting the virus in asymptomatic cases.
Air France-KLM is among airlines gearing up for the challenge of transporting millions of doses of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines in the midst of a travel slump.
Total coronavirus cases in Africa surpassed the 2 million mark on Wednesday despite the slow addition of reported infections compared to other regions around the world.