Coronavirus live news: Brazil sets new grim record with 1,910 deaths in 24 hours; Greece extends lockdown

5 months ago 233

Brazil suffers another day of record Covid losses; Greece prolongs lockdown to 16 March

Sao Paulo to shut bars and shops as pandemic snowballs more infectious variants spark new rise in cases in Serbia Denmark under pressure to drop Israel vaccine cooperation Dutch Covid test centre hit by suspected bomb attack German doctors broach ‘taboo’ subject of Covid toll on minority groups UK unions attack ‘sinister’ plan to force NHS staff to have vaccine See all our coronavirus coverage

11.25pm GMT

The new president of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee has hinted that foreign fans will not be allowed at this summer’s Games amid reports in the Japanese press that a decision had already been made to exclude them.

“If the situation is tough and it would make the [Japanese] consumers concerned, that is a situation we need to avoid from happening,” the committee president, Seiko Hashimoto, told reporters after online talks with the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach.

10.51pm GMT

Authorities in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, said on Wednesday they will negotiate the direct purchase of three coronavirus vaccines to speed up the immunisation process given the slow progress of the national government’s rollout since January.

Guayaquil’s mayor Cynthia Viteri said the goal was to vaccinate one million of over 2.6 million people in the city, which last year faced one of the worst outbreaks in the region. But the purchase requires formal authorisation from the president Lenin Moreno’s government, which has yet to comment.

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