Reuters News Now

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

AstraZeneca vaccine can be 90% effective
Britain’s AstraZeneca said its vaccine for the coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects.

The vaccine developed by Oxford University was 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 when it was administered as a half dose followed by a full dose at least one month apart, according to data from the late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil.

No serious safety events related to the vaccine have been confirmed and it was well tolerated across both dosing regimens, it said.

Indonesia hits half a million cases
Indonesia hit a grim milestone in surpassing more than half a million cases of the coronavirus, as hospitals across the country’s most populated province edged closer towards capacity. Indonesia now has 502,110 infections and 16,002 deaths from COVID-19, the highest numbers in Southeast Asia, having struggled to contain the spread since its first case in March.

India plans to put off parliamentary session
India plans to put off the winter session of parliament due to the rising number of infections, a government official said on Monday, with New Delhi facing a shortage of hospital beds and doctors. While the daily rise in new cases nationally has slowed, there has been a surge of infections in the capital, which officials said was because of the sprawling city of 20 million had remained fully open, with crowds gathering for religious festivals during recent weeks.

German states favor extending lockdown
Many of Germany’s 16 federal states favor extending a partial shutdown meant to slow the spread of the pandemic and make family gatherings over Christmas possible, two state premiers said on Monday. Germany imposed a month-long “lockdown-lite” from Nov. 2. Infection numbers have plateaued since but not declined.

New Zealand PM offers help to Biden
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she offered President-elect Joe Biden assistance with tackling the rampant outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. During the first talks between the two since Biden was elected as the next U.S. president, Ardern said she offered access to New Zealand’s most senior health officials.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Cineworld, Travel bubbles, Danone.
Cineworld’s debt cliffhanger gets a sequel, and a new outbreak of COVID-19 delays quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and Singapore. Catch up with the latest pandemic-related financial insights.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources.

Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages?

We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com.

We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how.

United States

President Donald Trump’s increasingly tenuous efforts to reverse his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden could be dealt a lethal blow, as Biden turns to the task of building his cabinet. Michigan is set to certify its results Monday, and Pennsylvania is likely to move a step closer to doing so.

Trump’s campaign and his allies have suffered a string of judicial defeats in their bid to prevent states from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election. Here is a list of litigation that could play out in the coming days.

Joe Biden’s top technology adviser helped craft California’s landmark online privacy law and recently condemned a controversial federal statute that protects internet companies from liability, indicators of how the Biden administration may come down on two key tech policy issues. Bruce Reed, a former Biden chief of staff who is expected to take a major role in the new administration, helped negotiate with the tech industry and legislators on behalf of backers of a ballot initiative that led to the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act.

World

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega controls the media and funnels the money back to his family. How? Buying out broadcasters and punishing anyone trying to speak out.

Forces of Ethiopia’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front have destroyed an airport in the ancient town of Axum, state-affiliated media said, as advancing federal troops gave them a 72-hour ultimatum to surrender. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has told the TPLF, which had been ruling the mountainous northern zone of 5 million people, to lay down their arms by Wednesday or face a final assault on the regional capital Mekelle.

Police in Belarus detained 345 people at nationwide anti-government protests, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Thousands took to the streets of the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday, with police using stun grenades to disperse the crowd.