法国在元旦前夕出动10万名警察，严防有人举行地下狂欢会，首都巴黎半数地铁线则在当晚停驶。意大利餐馆和酒吧休业，晚上10时开始实施宵禁。
西班牙马德里的太阳门广场被封锁起来，少了一年一度的倒计时活动。61岁市民博尔萨说，他会和家人留在家中，与亲友视频对话互送新年祝福，祈求疫情尽早结束。
为抑制冠病传播，澳洲严禁集会并封锁各州边界。新南威尔士州州长贝雷吉连说：“真是糟糕的一年，希望2021年会好一点。”
朝鲜平壤则并未因疫情而取消跨年庆祝活动，其国家电视台播放的画面显示人们戴着口罩在中央广场欣赏音乐会和烟花表演。
（日内瓦综合电）世界卫生组织（WHO）星期四（12月31日）把辉瑞疫苗列为可用于紧急用途，借此铺路让全球其他国家加速批准及分配该疫苗。由美国辉瑞与德国BioNTech研发的疫苗上个月获美国疾病控制及预防中心（CDC）批出紧急使用许可。
世卫说，来自世界各地的监管专家和世卫组织团队已全面审核了这款疫苗的安全性、有效性和质量数据，认为该疫苗符合世卫组织制定的安全性和有效性标准，使用该疫苗应对冠病疫情带来的益处足以抵消潜在风险。
世卫负责获得药品和卫生产品的助理总干事西芒表示：“这是确保全球获得冠病疫苗所迈出的非常积极的一步。”但她也强调：“需要做出更大的全球努力，以实现足够的疫苗供应来满足世界各地重点人群的需求。”
世卫免疫战略咨询专家组将于2021年1月5日召开会议，根据2020年9月发布的冠病疫苗接种人群总体优先次序建议，为该产品在人群中的使用制定具体政策和建议。
但世卫同时也指出，辉瑞与德国生物新技术疫苗需要在零下60至零下90摄氏度低温下存储。这一苛刻要求使疫苗在无法使用或无法可靠使用超低温储存设备的环境中部署更具挑战性。为此，世卫正在努力支持各国评估其执行计划，并在可能的情况下准备使用。
2021年1月2日 已有50多个国家展开疫苗接种工作
2020年12月11日，美药管局批准紧急使用辉瑞与德国生物新技术公司联合研发的冠病疫苗。这是第一款获批在美国紧急使用的冠病疫苗，被允许用于16岁及以上的群体。
至今已有50多个国家展开了疫苗接种工作。英国去年12月8日开始疫苗接种工作，是西方国家中最早展开疫苗注射的国家，截至12月27日，英国已有近95万人接种疫苗。
德国则是27个欧盟成员国中，疫苗注射量最庞大的国家，五天之内有超过13万人注射了疫苗。美国则有280万人接受了疫苗注射。
在中东国家，阿拉伯联合酋长国率先于12月14日启动了中国国药集团的疫苗接种工作；迪拜于12月23日开始辉瑞与德国BioNTech疫苗接种。以色列则计划在一个月内为四分之一的人口接种疫苗，目前已有近80万人注射了疫苗。
亚洲方面，新加坡12月30日开始疫苗接种工作；印度、日本和台湾计划在2021年第一季度开始接种疫苗；菲律宾和巴基斯坦则将在第二季度开始接种疫苗。
在撒哈拉以南非洲和大洋洲地区，疫苗工作则尚未开始。
Covidshield, the Coivd-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, has become the first vaccine to secure recommendation for emergency use approval in India. The recommendation was made by a government-appointed expert panel on Friday. However, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final call on the matter.
Prior to this, Argentina and the United Kingdom have already given emergency use approval to Covidshield and started the vaccine rollout process.
On Friday, an expert panel in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) held a meeting to deliberate on the issue of granting emergency use authorisation. The meeting was held to deliberate on the applications submitted by the Serum Institute of India for the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine and Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’.
In India, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India is manufacturing Covishield.
“As of today, we have 75 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. By the first week of January, we will have something around 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine,” Umesh Shaligram, director (R&D), of the Serum Institute told PTI on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19 deliberated and analysed the additional data and information submitted by the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech for their respective vaccines.
Addressing a webinar on the eve of the New Year, Drug Controller General of India VG Somani indicated that India is likely to grant emergency use approval for a vaccine against Covid-19 in the New Year.
In his address, Somani said the most important thing is that the industry and research organisations have stood the test of time. “Probably we will have a very happy New Year with something in hand. That’s what I can hint at,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
In India, so far the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Pfizer have applied for emergency use authorisation.
Six vaccines are at various stages of clinical trials, of which four are being indigenously developed. The clinical trials by Bharat Biotech of its vaccine ‘Covaxin’ are in phase 3, while the one which is being developed by Zydus Cadila is in phase 2 clinical trial.
Apart from this, the Serum Institute of India is also conducting phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Similarly, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is conducting phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
Norway has announced it will end travel restrictions placed on the UK aimed at stopping the spread of a coronavirus mutation. It said that special rules pertaining to travelers from the country will remain in place, however.
The Norweigan government released a statement on Friday in which it explained that the decision to bar direct flights from the United Kingdom will be lifted, starting on Saturday at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), but that strict health guidelines for people coming from the UK will continue.
Under the rules, individuals traveling from the UK must be tested for Covid-19 as soon as possible and no later than one day after arrival. A second test must be taken a week later and be made available before the mandatory quarantine period ends.
Quarantine rules are also more strict for those entering Norway from the UK, with some exemptions to the self-isolation period either removed or tightened for travelers. However, individuals who can prove that they tested positive and recovered from the virus within the last six months will not have to quarantine upon arrival.
The travel ban and restrictions were first introduced on December 21 and extended to January 2, in an attempt to stop the spread of a new strain of coronavirus first detected in Britain back in September.
The variant of the virus, known as SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01, is believed to be more contagious but so far there is no strong evidence to suggest that it is more deadly than SARS-CoV-2. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the public it could be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original variant. Virus mutations are a natural occurrence and usually new variants are weaker.
Despite questions about whether the strain actually poses new risks, the UK government used it to impose tighter restrictions on movement and gatherings, essentially ‘canceling’ Christmas and New Year for most of the country.
The discovery triggered an international response. Norway was one of more than 50 nations to suspend travel to and from the UK amid concerns about the mutation, even though many health experts speculated that it was likely already present in many other parts of the world. Japan took the restrictions one step further, announcing last week that it would halt all foreign arrivals to the country until the end of January. However, Japanese nationals and foreigners living in Japan will still be permitted to return.
The new strain has already been found in numerous European countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain.