World Coronavirus Dispatch: The dangerous race for vaccine approval

Reopening borders tough for Australia, Covid deals a huge blow to Italian tradition, software developer's app is key to Uruguay's Covid success, and other pandemic-related news around the globe

Qatar set for biggest budget deficit since Gulf spat

Qatar will run its largest budget deficit in four years in 2021 as it tries to shake off the impact of the coronavirus and the drag of lower energy prices on government revenue. Qatar’s deficit is expected to swell even though the world’s largest natural-gas exporter is planning to cut government spending by 7.5 per cent from last year. The budget assumes oil prices will average $40 per barrel. Governments across the Persian Gulf have been forced to tighten their belts as receipts from energy sales dropped and non-hydrocarbon economic growth stalled. Read more...

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 71,726,830

Change Over Yesterday: 618,011

Global deaths: 1,605,468

Nations with most cases: US (16,067,031), India (9,857,029), Brazil (6,880,127), Russia (2,602,048), France (2,405,255).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center.

Reopening borders is proving difficult for Australia

Health officials and lawmakers in Australia say they are convinced that the country’s success in suppressing the coronavirus owes much to a series of border controls that are among the strictest in the Western world, although it has come at a cost to businesses. As the country starts to roll back restrictions, the end of months-long and often fractious talks between leaders of Australia’s states and territories, who are responsible for internal borders, deciding when to let people travel freely is proving difficult. Read more...

South Africa’s alcohol makers move to fend off third booze ban

South Africa’s main producers and distributors of alcoholic drinks are striving to convince the government not to impose a third ban on booze sales to contain the coronavirus, even as the country is seeing a resurgence of infections. Liquor stores, supermarkets, pubs and restaurants in the country were ordered to halt retail of alcohol when Covid-19 infections started to gain traction in late March, a prohibition that remained in place for more than two months. The restriction was abruptly reimposed about six weeks after it was lifted, as the initial peak of the pandemic threatened to overwhelm hospitals and emergency rooms. Read more...

For one prized Italian tradition, Covid deals heartbreaking blow

Naples’s rich tradition of making Nativity scenes risks falling victim to a pandemic that has dealt an especially brutal blow to Italy’s artisan class and its vast network of family-run shops, some of which have been handed down for generations and are now fighting to survive. For generations, the Christmas season has brought throngs of visitors to Via San Gregorio Armeno, a historic street in the heart of Naples where artisans have made the city’s famous handcrafted Nativity scenes since the 1800s. This year, Via San Gregorio Armeno is largely deserted, with just a trickle of shoppers browsing the scores of stalls. Read more...

Germany builds mass vaccination centres in less than a week

Germany is building a string of vaccination centres across the country even before it has a vaccine to distribute. Constructions are underway in all 16 states. European approval of the Pfizer vaccine is expected sometime this month. The German approach could be watched closely by the United States and other countries around the world as they eye ways to vaccinate their populations as speedily as possible. Read more...

Specials

A software developer's app was key to Uruguay's Covid success

The deadline for the biggest challenge of a software developer's career in Uruguay was one week. When the first coronavirus cases appeared in Uruguay, Jodal and a group from civil society started thinking about how they could help the government in this fight. They came up with the idea of developing an app that could give advice to patients worried they might have coronavirus. Two days later, health ministry officials gave the green light. Eight months, and several versions of the app later, Uruguay remains one of the world’s big coronavirus success stories. Despite being sandwiched between two of the worst-affected countries, Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay’s mortality rate is the lowest of any nation in South America when adjusted for population size. Read more...

The vaccine approval fight is a dangerous game

As Western nations begin to roll out the first batch of promising vaccines against Covid-19, with the UK leading the charge and the US the latest to follow suit, the gatekeepers whose job it is to supervise their efficacy, safety and distribution are in a very tough spot. The pressure to go fast is immense. This once-in-a-century pandemic has claimed over 1 million lives worldwide. The urge to win points for speed risks backfiring as regulators indulge in one-upmanship, undermining trust. Read more...