Japan puts in use $13b in virus battle
Japan on Friday decided to put in use $13 billion from reserve funds in its fight against COVID-19, local media reported.
The government has decided to "use 1.4 trillion yen ($13 billion) in fiscal 2021 reserve funds, mainly for additional purchases of COVID-19 vaccines as well as securing medicines for patients," according to Kyodo News Agency.
It also includes interest-free loans to households and businesses, hit-hard by the pandemic. The world's third-largest economy infused liquidity in the market several times as the pandemic battered the country's health and financial structures.
Japan is witnessing a highly contagious Delta variant-driven virus wave, with at least 21 provinces under the state of emergency that allows local authorities to implement stronger measures against the virus.
The country of 126 million people has so far reported more than 1.38 million COVID-19 cases, including 15,797 deaths, the prime minister's office said.
However, the world's third largest economy is lagging behind in vaccination. The country has so far administered more than 122 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with over 54 million people fully vaccinated. Japan has been using an "antibody cocktail" treatment prepared of casirivimab and imdevimab. The therapy is believed to "lower a patient's risk of hospitalization or death."
On Thursday, Japanese authorities also suspended the use of about 1.6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine due to contamination. The Moderna vaccine's Spanish manufacturer said the doses in which contaminants were detected "had only been shipped to Japan." Opposition leader Juan Guaido is focused on moving Venezuela's presidential elections earlier as the only solution to the political and economic crises gripping his country.
Representatives of the opposition and the government of President Nicolas Maduro are taking part in talks in Mexico with mediation by Norway in a bid to lift the deadlock. As things stand, the presidential election is not due until 2024. Guaido however told AFP he wants one "as soon as possible," as early as December.
"For Venezuelans, the presidential election is what will resolve the conflict," said the politician, who burst onto the scene in January 2019 when he used his position as National Assembly speaker to declare himself acting president.
The legislature, which at the time was controlled by the opposition, had rejected Maduro's 2018 reelection in a poll widely dismissed as fraudulent, calling him an usurper.
"An election schedule that transforms an election into a real solution is part of the process" of the Mexico talks, said Guaido, 38, who is recognized by around 60 countries as Venezuela's acting president.
"The origin of the conflict is the 2018 non-election, the conflict is an usurpation of the executive," he added.
Whether or not he is the opposition candidate "we will have a single candidate, a united process," Guaido said.
Guaido said he believes that a trustworthy election "with the minimum of credibility" would be won by a democratic candidate with 70 to 80 percent voter support.