Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The euro zone is likely to decide between March and May when and how governments would start tapering support to their economies as vaccination campaigns allow the lifting of pandemic lockdowns and economic activity picks up, top euro zone officials said.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

• The World Health Organization listed AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, while sources said the EU is in talks with Moderna on buying more vaccines.

  • Britain's prime minister said that world powers should clinch a global treaty on pandemics to ensure proper transparency.

  • The Czech government plans to reopen schools for more students from March 1 with regular testing for infections, which remain at high levels.

AMERICAS

• Mexico began the task of vaccinating millions of senior citizens, with dozens of Mexicans aged over 60 years waiting in line for hours because of delays in administering shots.

• Colombia will begin vaccinations on Wednesday following the arrival of its first vaccines, from Pfizer.

ASIA-PACIFIC

• Most G7 economies such as Japan, Britain, the United States and France agree that now is not the time to withdraw fiscal support for their coronavirus-hit economies, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said.

  • South Korea has arranged to buy vaccines for 23 million more people, a day after authorities decided to scale back initial vaccination plans, citing delays and efficacy concerns.

  • Japan is scrambling to secure special syringes to maximise the number of vaccine shots used from each vial, but manufacturers are struggling to ramp up production quickly.

  • Australia's Victoria state is well placed to begin easing out of a snap five-day lockdown on Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

  • Malaysia will get its first batch of vaccines, produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, on Feb. 21, and kick off its inoculation drive five days after that.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

• South Africa has asked the Serum Institute of India to take back the one million vaccine doses the company had sent in early February, the Economic Times reported.

• The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of holding up the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines into Gaza, where Palestinians have yet to receive any doses.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

• The European Union will this week kick off a new programme to study mutations in the COVID-19 virus, the European Commission's president told Les Echos.

• Britain's drug regulator is auditing manufacturing processes at Serum Institute of India which could pave the way for AstraZeneca's vaccine to be shipped from there to Britain and other countries, sources said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

• World equities were on course to extend their bull run for a 12th consecutive session as optimism about the global economic recovery and expectations of low interest rates drive investments into riskier assets.

• The World Trade Organization's incoming chief warned against "vaccine nationalism" that would slow progress in ending the pandemic and could erode economic growth.