• Hong Kong reports first COVID death since September aje.io/435r6j
• Pfizer’s COVID sales to top $50bn this year, investors want more aje.io/bpvkap
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WHO seeks $23bn to end the COVID pandemic as a global health emergency by helping low and middle-income nations obtain tests, treatments and vaccines aje.io/ja6cjt
Indonesia starts testing homegrown COVID vaccine on humans, as the country faces a rising wave of cases aje.io/hbdhfs
UK PM Boris Johnson signals early end to England’s COVID isolation rules aje.io/tgz27v
EU pushes for COVID jabs in Africa as supply ‘no longer’ an issue aje.io/ruhesx
“We can’t allow those individual passions to decide the debate.”
US state mask mandates to expire, creating tensions for schools aje.io/qeg2uy
“All of us want to actually move on."
New Zealand police break up Wellington trucker protesting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic measures aje.io/hynyec
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Russia is preparing to begin 10 days of military drills in Belarus in a show of strength that security experts have said is designed to show Ukraine and the West that it is serious about the potential of war.
“If things come to the invasion, we’ll fight for Kyiv.”
Dismissed as ‘militants’ by Russian officials, Ukrainians from a range of backgrounds are spending their spare time preparing for war aje.io/z5trd5
Pope Francis says that war in Ukraine would be "madness" and voiced hope that tensions with Russia can be overcome with "serious dialogue" aje.io/sqrf94
Over the past week, a snowstorm across Syria and neighbouring countries has left millions of displaced Syrians at risk of freezing and has killed at least three children ⤵️
The freezing weather is not just affecting Syrians in the northwest, but across the war-torn country and in refugee camps in neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
Aid workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of families trapped in the storm ⤵️
“The freezing temperatures and ice make it difficult for water tankers and health teams to reach those places.” - Mark Cutts, humanitarian UN coordinator.
• New Omicron subvariant ‘appears to have growth advantage’ aje.io/hvx7x2
• Europeans eye endemic light at end of pandemic tunnel aje.io/y4d2js
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Almost two years into the pandemic, some countries have declared their intention to start treating COVID like other endemic diseases, such as seasonal flu.