DAILY DOSE: December 24, 2020
Posted on 12/24/2020
1. Joining other nations, China will suspend direct flights to and from the United Kingdom, according to Wang Wenbin, a China foreign ministry spokesman. This is due to the citing the emergence of a new coronavirus strain. The U.K. is temporarily stopping flights and arrivals from South Africa.
2. Israel’s cabinet approved a 3rd national lockdown of up to four weeks to lower the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Stores and most schools will be closed starting Sunday evening, according to a statement from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The restrictions will be in place for two weeks, but could be increased based on new cases.
3. Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE agreed to supply an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. The agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the U.S. to 200 million, the companies said Wednesday in a statement. Through Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer expects to deliver all the doses to U.S. vaccine by July 31, 2021. Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management announced an extensive vaccination campaign against COVID-19. The vaccination will use Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine and is free of charge.
4. Payments company Square Inc. had talks to acquire the music-streaming service Tidal. Rapper Jay-Z bought Tidal for US$ 56 million in early 2015.
5. U.S. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton steps down.
6. CDC says more than 1 million in the U.S. have received vaccine doses for coronavirus.
7. CDC says there is no evidence so far that the SARS-COV-2 variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. The variant is predicted to be more rapidly transmissible vs other circulating SARS-COV-2 strains.
8. Federal Reserve Bank of New York buys US$ 1.735 billion in U.S. Treasury coupons.
