BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

SANTIAGO -- Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced Thursday that adolescents between 12 and 17 years old can begin to get vaccinated against COVID-19 on June 21 with the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech laboratories.

The Institute of Public Health received a request on May 20 from Pfizer-BioNTech to extend vaccination to this age group, which included information from a clinical study conducted on children from 12 to 16 years old.

- - - -

CAPE TOWN -- South Africa "technically" entered the third wave of COVID-19 on Thursday according to the statistics, the country's National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a statement of daily update on COVID-19.

The national seven-day moving average incidence, which reached 5,959 cases, exceeded the new wave threshold defined by the Ministerial Advisory Committee of the government. The threshold was defined as 30 percent of the peak incidence of the previous wave.

- - - -

WASHINGTON -- Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the shelf life of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from 3 months to 4.5 months, as millions of unused doses nationwide are set to expire this month.

The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated that the vaccine is stable at 4.5 months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, according to the drugmaker.

- - - -

BEIJING -- More than 200,000 foreigners in China have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to date, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a question regarding how China is facilitating COVID-19 vaccination for foreigners in the country.

- - - -

NAIROBI -- Nine out of ten African countries could miss the target of vaccinating 10 percent of their population against COVID-19 by September, dimming hopes of containing the pandemic in the continent, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said that nearly 90 percent or 47 out of 54 African countries are off-track in terms of inoculating 10 percent of their population against the virus in the next three months even as they grapple with surging infections.

- - - -

TEHRAN -- Iran on Thursday reported 12,398 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 3,003,112.

The pandemic has so far claimed 81,672 lives in Iran, up by 153 in the past 24 hours, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.

- - - -

SEOUL -- Twelve more U.S. soldiers in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday citing the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) command.

Eleven USFK service members were confirmed with COVID-19 after arriving here between May 22 and June 6. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)