Last minute covid | WHO recommends AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65

The coronavirus pandemic already exceeds 107 million infections worldwide, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, one of the main monitoring bodies for covid-19. The center also posts 2,354 million deaths worldwide and more than 60 million people recovered.

The United States continues to appear as the country most affected in total figures, with more than 27.2 million infections and 471,425 dead, followed by India, with 10.87 million and 155,360 deaths; and Brazil, with almost 9.65 million accumulated positives and 234,850 deaths, respectively.

In Spain, the pandemic maintains high levels of mortality – 643 deaths reported in the last 24 hours – but its contagion capacity continues to decrease and the cumulative incidence in fourteen days per 100,000 inhabitants drops to 584, a figure that was not collected since January 15.

(GUIDE | Measures in Madrid: curfew, confined areas and limits)

09:09 – The PP is going to ask this Thursday that the Prosecutor's Office investigate whether the former Minister of Health and candidate of the PSC to the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has received the vaccine against the coronavirus, after refusing to take a PCR test to participate in the electoral debate of TV3.

Illa avoided taking the antigen test for covid-19 that TV3 requested

Marcos Lamelas. Barcelona

The popular will take their suspicions to the Prosecutor's Office, as 'La Razón' has advanced and sources from this party have confirmed to Efe, after your candidate in Catalonia, Alejandro FernándezThis Wednesday Illa is branded as "irresponsible".

The PP recalls that the Socialists have also gone to the Prosecutor's Office to denounce the Government of Murcia, where up to 400 people would have been vaccinated, skipping the Health protocol.

08:38 – The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, which has developed one of the vaccines against covid-19, obtained a net profit of 3,144 million dollars (2,592 million euros) in 2020, 159% more than the previous year.

AstraZeneca earns 2,592 million in 2020, 159% more, thanks to the covid vaccine

EFE

In a statement sent to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, the company said that its profit before tax stood at 3,916 million dollars (3,228 million euros), an increase of 152% compared to the previous year.

Total revenues in 2020 reached 26,617 million dollars (21,945 million euros), an increase of 9.1% compared to 2019, added the company, which has highlighted the significant income generated by the rapid development of new drugs, as well as progress to produce the vaccine against covid-19.

08:18 – The German authorities have confirmed this Thursday more than 10,000 cases of coronavirus during the last 24 hours, with which the European country exceeds the barrier of 2.3 million infections since the start of the pandemic, which has also left more than 63,000 dead.

Germany exceeds 2.3 M cases and extends confinement until March 7

Europa Press

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government entity in charge of the control of infectious diseases, has indicated through its website that during the last day 10,237 cases and 666 deaths have been detected, which places the totals at 2,310,233 and 63,635, respectively.

07:59 – The Ministry of Consumer Affairs will toughen the requirements in the sale of hygienic masks in a new order, for which only those tested by accredited laboratories may be marketed as such, and those that are not and do not comply with the regulations may face the sanction of closure for five years.

The Government will ban the sale of cloth masks as hygienic

Ivan Gil

According to sources from the Ministry of Consumption, the head of this department will sign the new order this Thursday, which establishes a transitional period to adapt the labeling and accreditation of laboratories, and which establishes a new combined model of materials that allows lip reading and guarantees "real protection" against SARS-CoV-2.

07:58 – Israel's emergency health service – Maguen David Adom – reported this Wednesday that around 400 Palestinians, East Jerusalem residents and Palestinians working in Israel have been vaccinated against the coronavirus near the Qalandia checkpoint.

Israel closes Tel Aviv airport to prevent entry of coronavirus variants

Europa Press

This has been explained by a spokesman for Magen David Adom to the local newspaper 'The Times of Israel', which has detailed that "Palestinians can come and get vaccinated, including those who have identity documents from the Palestinian Authority and work permits."

07:55 – The Ministry of Health of China has reported this Thursday 18 new positives for coronavirus, of which 16 are asymptomatic and two have symptoms, while only one of them is locally transmitted.

The two confirmed and symptomatic cases come from abroad, but have been detected in Fujian and Guangdong, while a suspected case has been reported in Shanghai. Of the 16 asymptomatic cases, the Chinese health authorities have specified that 15 come from abroad and one has been detected in Jilin.

07:30 – The presiding judge the room that has allowed the reopening of bars in Euskadi, Luis Ángel Garrido, has affirmed that an epidemiologist "is a family doctor who has taken a course", and has opined that the measures against covid-19 adopted in Spain and in all countries "do not differ much from those that were given in the middle Ages".

The Superior Court authorizes the reopening of the hotel business in the 'red zone' of the Basque Country

EFE

During a gathering held on Radio Popular de Bilbao last Monday, a day before the car of the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country authorizing the opening of bars and restaurants in Basque municipalities located in the "red zone" due to their high incidence of covid-19, the judge pointed out that epidemiology "is not as advanced as it seems."