What you need to know about the coronavirus today

UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
Britain approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the West’s first country to formally endorse a jab it said should reach the most vulnerable people by early next week.
Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency granted emergency use approval to the vaccine, which they say is 95% effective, in record time - just 23 days since Pfizer published the first data from its final stage clinical trial.
“With 450 people dying of COVID-19 infection every day in the UK, the benefits of rapid vaccine approval outweigh the potential risks,” said Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool.

U.S. ready for domestic shipment of vaccines
The U.S. Transportation Department said Tuesday it had made preparations to enable the “immediate mass shipment” of COVID-19 vaccines and completed all necessary regulatory measures.
U.S. agencies have been coordinating with private sector companies that will carry vaccines from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers and inoculation points.
The department is preparing to ensure deliveries of vaccine doses for about 40 million U.S. residents through January, or about 20 million a month, officials told Reuters.
WHO tightens guidelines on mask-wearing
People living in areas with where COVID-19 is spreading should always wear masks in shops, workplaces and schools that lack adequate ventilation, the World Health Organization said.
If they cannot maintain physical distancing of at least one meter (3 ft), people in those indoor locations - including children and students aged 12 or over - should wear a mask even if the spaces are well ventilated, it said in a tightening of its guidelines.
They should also wear masks outdoors if physical distancing cannot be maintained, it said.
Swiss plough ahead with skiing despite neighbors’ fears
Swiss ski resorts are ploughing ahead with preparations for the year-end holiday season despite pressure from neighboring Italy, France and Germany to stay shut until the latest coronavirus wave passes.
Health Minister Alain Berset has proposed limits on the capacity of ski lifts at Christmas and the New Year, but lift operators and mountain regions who already expect many foreign visitors to stay away during the festive period bristle at the added restrictions.
Verbier Mayor Eloi Rossier acknowledged feeling the heat from other countries, but said his town’s ski economy was too important to simply call off the season.
Australian state dances again
Australia’s most populous state said that it would remove limits on the number of people at weddings, bars and religious services and end a ban on public venue dancing as a run of coronavirus-free days prompted a broad downgrade of social distancing rules.
The changes announced by New South Wales come in time for Australia’s summer holidays, and mark the biggest lifting of precautionary measures since a nationwide lockdowns began in March.
People in the state, where a third of Australia’s 25 million population lives, would also be allowed to drink standing up at pubs, while seated outdoor events could host up to 5,000 people.

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U.S.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating a potential crime related to funneling money to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to court documents unsealed in federal court. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Tuesday released a heavily redacted order that described what she called a “bribery-for-pardon” investigation.

With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across its shores earlier this year, the U.S. government in April announced orders for almost $3 billion of ventilators for a national stockpile, meant to save Americans suffering from severe respiratory problems brought on by the disease. But many won’t save critically ill COVID-19 patients.

The governors of five Republican states are ready to fight Democratic President-elect Joe Biden if he tries to require the power sector to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The litigious stance reflects just one of the many obstacles Biden will face as he seeks to deliver on a campaign promise to bring the U.S. economy to net zero emissions by 2050 to combat climate change.

The U.S. Transportation Department said it has made preparations to enable the “immediate mass shipment” of COVID-19 vaccines and completed all necessary regulatory measures. The department said U.S. agencies have been coordinating with private sector companies that will carry vaccines from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers and inoculation points.

special report

A Reuters investigation reveals how Iran’s close involvement in religious tourism is bringing Tehran soft power and cementing a presence in Iraqi religious centers that are the nexus of Shi’ite regional influence.