Coronavirus around the world

Europe

● Spain s Catalonia region will not relax restrictions as planned because of worsening infection rates, prompting some ski slopes to postpone their opening next week.

● France will ensure free vaccinations for all and has earmarked some 1.5bn euros € (R28bn) of 2021 s social security budget to cover the cost.

● Britain will pay £120,000 (R2.5m) to individuals who suffer any severe side-effects from Covid-19 vaccines.

Americas

● US president-elect Joe Biden said he would publicly take a coronavirus vaccine to demonstrate its safety.

● IBM and US officials are sounding the alarm over hackers targeting companies critical to the distribution of vaccines.

● Costa Rica has signed an agreement with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE for the manufacture and delivery of three million Covid-19 vaccines in 2021.

Asia-Pacific

● Victims of the world s worst industrial disaster 36 years ago in India said the pandemic had worsened their plight.

● Indonesia recorded its biggest daily rise in infections on Thursday, with its Covid-19 task force attributing the jump to a lag in some areas reporting cases.

Middle East and Africa

● A partial lockdown will begin this weekend in the Gaza Strip after infections spiked in the densely populated territory.

Medical developments

● Challenges in Pfizer Inc s supply chain for the raw materials used in its Covid-19 vaccine played a role in its decision to slash its 2020 production target.

● Moderna Inc said it expects to have between 100-million and 125-million doses of its experimental vaccine available globally in the first quarter of 2021.

● AstraZeneca and Oxford University have given conflicting accounts of how they came upon the most effective dosing pattern for their vaccine.