World Coronavirus Dispatch: Beijing pips global hubs with 80% jab rate

CureVac's shares plunge as vaccine disappoints, Japan set to lift some curbs ahead of Tokyo Olympics, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

CureVac loses billions of dollars in market value after vaccine fails in trial

German firm CureVac's shares plunged over 50 per cent, wiping out $9 billion in market value as its vaccine showed only 47 per cent efficacy in a crucial trial, even though the findings are preliminary. The firm's shot fell way short of expectations when compared with the bar set by other mRNA vaccines. More details will emerge in the final readout of the study, which will include more than 200 cases and could come within two or three weeks, CureVac said. The shot could be a boost in the developing world, since it doesn’t require the deep freezing needed for other Covid shots. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 177,043,560

Global deaths: 3,833,075

Vaccine doses administered: 2,445,759,606

Nations with most cases: US (33,498,511), India (29,700,313), Brazil (17,628,588), France (5,809,319), Turkey (5,348,249).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Beijing vaccination rate tops 80% as China nears 1 billion shots

Beijing has fully vaccinated more than 80 per cent of its adult residents, as the Chinese capital leads other global hubs in the race for herd immunity against Covid-19. The city has given out a total of 33.4 million Covid vaccine doses since China kicked off its campaign to vaccinate its more than 1.4 billion people in December, according to state-run newspaper the Beijing Daily. This compares with other major centers that are still working to reach those levels. New York City has inoculated 46.8 per cent of its population, London has reached 34.8 per cent and 34.9 per cent have had both doses in Singapore, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker. Read here

China steps in to fill vaccine void in Asia’s developing nations

Chinese vaccines, through a mix of small donations and larger sales contracts, have been a part of rollouts in developing countries across Asia in the first half of 2021. Millions of doses have arrived as governments in the West focused on getting their own populations inoculated and Covax, a program backed by the World Health Organization to immunise the world, fell short of its goals. In the last six months, deliveries of Chinese shots, even if they often arrived in small batches, helped several governments push their vaccination drives forward—and gave Beijing an opportunity to strengthen ties. Read here

Japan set to lift some curbs ahead of Tokyo Olympics

The Japanese government is set to ease coronavirus restrictions in Tokyo and other cities from next week, after it lifts a state of emergency ahead of the Olympic Games in about a month, according to a report in the Nikkei Asia. The country's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will consult with experts on the lifting of strict restrictions. A quasi-state of emergency will be applied on seven prefectures beginning June 21, after the current state of emergency expires on June 20 in 10 prefectures, in a move to prevent another wave of infections before the Games. Read here