COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 9 March

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 117.1 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 2.6 million.

China has launched a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate for its citizens planning cross-border travel.

Indonesia has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use. More than a million doses of the vaccine arrived in the country yesterday as part of the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility.

US aviation, travel and aerospace groups have joined unions in urging the Biden administration to help establish temporary COVID-19 health credentials in an effort to boost travel.

Canada has declared a 'National Day of Observance' on 11 March to remember the country's COVID-19 victims - who number more than 22,000 - and those fighting the virus.

An evening curfew in the Netherlands will remain in place until at least 31 March, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said yesterday.

The number of people being treated for COVID-19 in French intensive care units reached a 14-and-a-half-week-high on Monday, hitting 3,849.

Greece plans to lift restrictions in the retail sector and open schools before the end of March, a government spokesperson said yesterday. The country also hopes to re-open the tourism sector in May.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said yesterday that people should be positive about Britain's economic prospects as it emerges from the pandemic. But, he urged 'cautionary realism' about the challenges from structural change.

2. Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine neutralizes Brazil variant in lab study

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was able to neutralize a new variant of COVID-19 currently spreading in Brazil, according to the results of a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Blood taken from people who had been given the vaccine neutralized an engineered version of the virus that contained the same mutations carried on the spike portion of the highly contagious P1 variant first identified in Brazil, according to the study conducted by scientists from the companies and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Previous studies have found that the vaccine also neutralized other more contagious variants first identified in the UK and South Africa - although the South African variant might reduce protection antibodies elicited by the virus.

Preliminary studies also suggest the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will protect against the P1 variant, Mauricio Zuma, the head of production at Brazil’s Fiocruz biomedical institute said yesterday.

3. Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks indoors: CDC

People who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can meet without masks indoors in small groups, new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. But people should continue to avoid non-essential travel and wear face coverings in public.

The updated guidelines also allow fully vaccinated people to meet unvaccinated individuals at low-risk of severe COVID-19 from one other household without masks.

But, the CDC also urged everyone - including fully vaccinated people - to continue to follow many precautions, such as avoiding large gatherings.

“We remain in the midst of a serious pandemic, and still over 90% of our population is not fully vaccinated,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters. “Therefore, everyone, whether vaccinated or not, should continue to avoid medium- and large-sized gatherings as well as non-essential travel.”