(Reuters) – Japan crossed 1 million coronavirus cases, domestic media reported, as infections surged from Olympic host Tokyo to other urban areas and the country grapples with an unprecedented speed of the Delta variant.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news
EUROPE
* Fewer people in England had COVID-19 at the end of last month, while the closely watched reproduction “R” number might have dropped below 1, adding to evidence that the national epidemic has stopped growing.
* The European Union will next week review the list of states from which non-essential travel is allowed under restrictions and could reconsider the inclusion of the United States, an EU official said .
* Russia recorded around 463,000 excess deaths from April 2020 to June this year during the pandemic, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the state statistics service.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* The Philippines placed its Manila capital region under a two-week lockdown as it reported its largest single-day jump in infections for almost four months.
* Singapore will from next week lift some curbs and ease restrictions on entry for foreign workers, as vaccination rates soar.
* Johnson & Johnson has applied for emergency use approval of its vaccine in India.
AMERICAS
* The Biden administration is examining what authority businesses have to mandate vaccines, a top U.S. official told Reuters, as it considers what more steps can be done to halt the spread of COVID-19.
* New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said kindergarten through 12th-grade students and staff must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status when public schools open.
* Amazon.com Inc has ordered all U.S. employees to wear a mask at work regardless of their vaccination status.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* As Senegalese doctors battle a surge in COVID-19, grave-diggers have had to work into the night to keep up with the number of deaths.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* COVID-19 increases patients’ risks for heart attack and stroke, suggests a study from Sweden that compared 86,742 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 and 348,481 people without the virus.
* No causal link between COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders has been found so far, Europe’s drugs regulator said on Friday, separately recommending that three new conditions be added as possible side-effects of J&J’s JNJ.N coronavirus shot.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* A positive jobs report drove U.S. stocks modestly higher Friday, but a parallel rise in Treasury yields signaled a downside: the good news could push the Federal Reserve to curtail its massive stimulus policies faster then expected. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Indonesia’s plans to gradually taper its pandemic-induced fiscal support will not change, even though the government has had to adjust spending plans to fight a devastating new wave, its finance minister said.
* Liability insurers are scaling back the cover they offer companies ahead of an expected wave of discrimination claims as employers call staff back to their desks after 18 months of pandemic-induced home working.
(Compiled by Devika Syamnath and Sarah Morland; Editing by Giles Elgood and Maju Samuel)
