BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday gave the green light to two versions of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, allowing them to be rolled out globally via COVAX.
The two versions are produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio in South Korea and the Serum Institute of India, WHO said in a news release, noting that the vaccine shows 63.09 percent efficacy and "is suitable for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements."
- - - -
BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland on Monday reported 16 new COVID-19 cases, all imported, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.
No suspected cases or deaths related to COVID-19 were newly reported, the commission said in its daily report.
Also on Monday, 48 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals following their recovery.
- - - -
SAO PAULO -- Brazil registered 528 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 239,773, the Ministry of Health said Monday.
The ministry also reported 32,197 more cases, bringing the national count to 9,866,710.
- - - -
SEOUL -- South Korea reported 457 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 84,325.
The daily caseload was up from 343 in the previous day, rising above 400 for first time in four days.
- - - -
HARARE -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday officially received 200,000 COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of the handover certificate of the donation with Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun at State House in Harare, Mnangagwa said the Chinese government has shown its commitment to assisting Zimbabwe in its fight against the pandemic.
"Yet again, the People's Republic of China has demonstrated its solidarity by being the first to partner with us in the effort to vaccinate our people. We are confident that this will enable us to enter new dawn in our fight against this global pandemic," Mnangagwa said. Enditem
