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Scotland on Tuesday made sanitary products free to all women, becoming the first nation in the world to take such a step against “period poverty.”   The measure makes tampons and sanitary pads available at designated public places such as community centers, youth clubs and pharmacies, at an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of $32 million U.S. The Period Products (Free Provision) Scotland Bill passed unanimously, and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon called it “an important policy for women and girls.”   “Proud to vote for this groundbreaking legislation, making Scotland the first country in the world to provide free period products for all who need them,” Sturgeon posted on Twitter. During the debate, the bill’s proposer, Scottish Labour MP Monica Lennon, said: “No one should have to worry about where their next tampon, pad or reusable is coming from.   “Scotland will not be the last country to consign period poverty to history, but we have the chance to be the first,” she said.   In 2018, Scotland became the first country to provide free sanitary products in schools, colleges and universities. Some 10% of girls in Britain have been unable to afford sanitary products, according to a survey by the children’s charity Plan International in 2017, with campaigners warning many skip classes as a consequence.   Sanitary products in the United Kingdom are taxed at 5%, a levy that officials have blamed on European Union (EU) rules that set tax rates on certain products.   Now that Britain has left the EU, British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has said he would abolish the “tampon tax” in January 2021. 
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After four years of warnings and preparations, the 2020 presidential election did not see a repeat of 2016, when intelligence officials concluded Russia meddled using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations.  
 
But according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, as well as analysts, the good news ends there.   
 
The Russians, they warn, have been busy laying the foundation for future success.
 
Instead of relying on troll farms and fake social media accounts to try to sway the thoughts and opinions of American voters, they warn the Kremlin’s influence peddlers have instead gained a new foothold, establishing themselves as part of the United States’s news and social media ecosystem, ingratiating themselves to U.S. audiences on the far right and the far left.
 
“A lot of these campaigns are getting engagement in the millions,” Evanna Hu, chief executive officer of Omelas, told VOA. “They are pretty good at inducing the type of sentiment, a negative sentiment or a positive sentiment in the audience, from their posts.”
 
Omelas, a Washington-based firm that tracks online extremism for defense contractors, has been studying Russian content across 11 social media platforms and hundreds of RSS feeds in multiple languages, collecting 1.2 million posts in a 90-day period surrounding the November 3 election.
 
It found the most prolific Russian outlets included state-backed media outlets like RT, Sputnik, TASS and Izvestia TV.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on the screen of a camera viewfinder in a studio of Russia’s RT television channel in Moscow, Russia, June 11, 2013.“We only look at active engagements, so you have to physically click on something or retweet it,” said Hu, admitting that the estimate for the millions of engagements is still “pretty rough.”
 
Also, Omelas determined that only about 20% of the posts pumped out by Russia’s propaganda and influence machine are in English. Forty percent of the content is in Russian, with the rest going out in Spanish, Arabic, Turkish and a handful of other languages.
 Russian-backed media
 
U.S. officials have been reluctant to speak publicly about the impact these efforts have had on American citizens, in part because there is no easy way to measure the effect.   
 
After the 2016 election, for example, intelligence officials repeatedly said while they were able to conclude Russian efforts expressed a preference for then-candidate Donald Trump, they could not say whether any Americans voted differently as a result.
 
Still, multiple officials speaking to VOA on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject said it was unlikely that Russia would continue to spend money on these media ventures if the influence operations were not producing results.
 
An August 2020 report by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, while not sharing a figure, concluded Moscow “invests massively in its propaganda channels, its intelligence services and its proxies.”
 
U.S. election security officials have likewise repeatedly voiced concerns about Russia’s efforts to stake out space in the news and social media ecosystem.
 
“I’m telling you right now, if it comes from something tied back to the Kremlin, like RT or Sputnik or Ruptly, question the intent,” Christopher Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told a cybersecurity summit in September. “What are they trying to get you to do? Odds are, it’s not a good thing.”FILE – The main newsroom of Russia’s Sputnik news is seen in Moscow, April 27, 2018.Senior CISA officials again called out Russian-backed media while briefing reporters on Election Day (November 3), begging Americans to treat any information coming from Russian-linked sources with a “hefty, hefty, hefty dose of skepticism.”  
 Disinformation payoff
 
To some extent, the repeated warnings about Russian-supported outlets like RT and Sputnik have paid off, at least when it comes to this month’s presidential election.
 
“They (RT and Sputnik) aren’t prominent domains in any of the analyses that we’ve done on false narratives of voter fraud,” Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor and lead researcher with the Election Integrity Partnership, told VOA via email.
 
“They do sometimes amplify disinformation that is already spreading,” she added. “But they typically come in late and rarely change the trajectory of that disinformation.”
 
Some intelligence officials and researchers warn, though, that for now, that could very well be enough.
 
“You still see people sharing their (Russian) content in America,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent who has been studying Russian disinformation efforts for years. “The reach of Russian news inside the U.S. … is exponentially higher than in other countries. So, they can see a return on it.”
 Redfish red herring
 
To help grow that return even more, and to avoid labels that identify the content as Russian, outlets like RT and Sputnik have also begun pushing content through the social media accounts of some of their most popular hosts, added Watts, currently a non-resident fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. Then there is the Redfish channel on Instagram, which Watts said has allowed Russia to gain “significant traction.”“They put up a heavy rotation on George Floyd protests, and that is now where you see Americans sharing it routinely, millions and millions of shares,” Watts told VOA. “They dramatically raised their profile, particularly with the political left in the United States and African Americans, who I’m convinced have no idea that Redfish is a Russian outfit.”
 Far-right appeal
 
Russia is also finding ways to resonate with the far right.
 
According to the August report by the Global Engagement Center, Russian proxy websites like Canada’s Global Research website or the Russian-run Strategic Culture Foundation amplify conspiracy theories about subjects like the coronavirus.
 
Researchers like Watts say that propaganda then sometimes finds its way onto far-right websites such as ZeroHedge or The Duran, where it gets amplified again.
 
Another researcher warned that Russian efforts are also resonating with far-right conspiracy theorists, some of whom will pick up propaganda from proxy sites, or more mainstream sources like RT.
 
“All of these Q(Anon)-driven accounts — they love the Russian stuff,” the researcher told VOA on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the work.
 Into the mainstream
 
Not all Russian propaganda efforts circulate on the fringes of American politics. Some of the narratives hang around and are repeated often enough that they become difficult to ignore.
 
“So then, they can get somebody else from the American far right or far left to pick up on that story and then eventually snowball that so mainstream picks up on it … coopting the American media in a sense,” said Omelas’s CEO, Hu.  
 
Other times, Russia’s influence peddlers have found their contributors thrust into the spotlight.
 
For example, on November 20, U.S. President Trump repeatedly retweeted Wayne Dupree, who regularly writes opinion pieces for RT.We have great support on the Election Hoax! https://t.co/ChpkuZvc4s— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2020 
Just days earlier in a RT opinion piece, Dupree slammed what he described as “the fraudulent and brazen behavior of these Democrats to destroy the election’s integrity.”“They are all going to fall hard, along with the major news networks that have sought to brainwash the American people,” Dupree added. “The entire system is coming down, folks. Get ready.”
 
A number of researchers and U.S. counterintelligence officials say the incident falls into what has become an all-too familiar pattern.It’s actually quite a bit worse than that, the whole convergence of Kremlin media and conservative media…. https://t.co/dlJsUeeZOo— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) November 20, 2020In June, U.S. officials and lawmakers warned that RT purposefully courted outspoken, local U.S. police officers and union officials, attempting to use their reactions to protests sweeping across the country to further inflame tensions.
 
“They know they no longer need to do their own work,” National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina told Hearst Television in October.  
 
“They’re now taking U.S. citizens’ information, and they are taking it and amplifying it,” he said. “Whether it be conspiracy theorists or legitimate folks who have wrong information, they get amplified consistently.” 
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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Parliament Tuesday that the number of new COVID-19 cases has stabilized and hospitalizations are down, but the COVID-19 alert levels in the country will remain as they are.”We now have grounds for cautious optimism,” Sturgeon told lawmakers.  She said current restrictions would remain in place and unchanged until December 11.Scotland has a five-tiered alert system, with Level 0 being nearly normal and the most restrictions at Level 4. The government reviews the alerts every Tuesday.  Sturgeon said except for East Lothian, which moved from Level 3 to Level 2, the government was not proposing any changes to restrictions that currently apply to each local authority. She said recent developments in vaccines meant there was “light at the end of the tunnel,” but she stressed the importance of continuing to observe restrictions during what was likely to be a “difficult winter ahead.” The first minister said there were plans to extend asymptomatic testing, adding that the government was working with regional authorities to develop and deliver targeted geographical testing to communities in alert Level 4. Meanwhile, Sturgeon announced on Tuesday that Scotland was joining the rest of Britain in allowing a relaxation of some COVID-19 restrictions over the Christmas holiday. From December 23 to December 27, three households will be allowed to gather inside a private home, a place of worship or outdoors to observe the holiday. The first minister was quick to point out that the virus does not take time off and urged people to be cautious. 
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Italian prosecutors investigating the 2016 death of an Italian student who was killed in Egypt are set to request authorization for a trial-in-absentia of several Egyptian security officials, according to Italian press reports.  
 
Italy has no extradition treaty with Cairo. According to Italian officials, Egyptian authorities have often stonewalled the two-year long probe by investigative magistrates in Rome into the death of 28-year-old Giulio Regeni.  
 
The student’s badly disfigured and tortured body was discovered in February 2016 dumped alongside the Cairo-Alexandria highway nine days after he disappeared.
 
Regeni, a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge who was born in Friuli, a mountainous northeast Italian region, had been burnt and many of his bones broken. Initials were carved into his skin. His mother struggled to identify him.  
 Spotlight on el-Sissi
 
A trial would throw an international spotlight on Egypt’s jailing of more than 60,000 political opponents and how detainees are treated, analysts say.  
 
Italy’s newspaper of record, Corriere della Sera, says Rome prosecutors, due to unveil their findings next week, plan to ask for up to five intelligence officers to be charged for the murder.  
 
“It will turn into a trial of the Egypt of [President] Abdel Fattah el-Sissi,” the paper said.  
 
Last year, Italian prosecutors said Regeni had been ensnared in a “spider’s web” spun by the Egyptian security services in the weeks before his death.  
 
Prosecutors Sergio Colaiocco and Michele Prestipino placed five members of Egypt’s security forces under official investigation for alleged involvement in the disappearance of the postgraduate student.
 
Egyptian officials have offered multiple explanations for Regeni’s death, including claims he died as a result of a car accident or because of a lovers’ quarrel. Later, Egyptian authorities said he had been murdered by a crime gang, whose members died in a gunfight with police.  
 
But Italian officials and rights groups, as well as his family, have long suspected he died at the hands of Egyptian security officers, who suspected he was spying. Regeni’s research was into trade unions and he interviewed street hawkers for his work, prompting one to tell police the Italian was a spy.  
 
Last year, Colaiocco told an Italian parliamentary commission that Egyptian officials had tried on several occasions to mislead investigators.FILE – Amnesty International activists hold a candle light vigil in Rome’s Pantheon square, July 25, 2016, in remembrance of the late Italian student Giulio Regeni.Italian prosecutors are scheduled to conclude their probe on December 4 and will have to seek a court’s agreement for a trial to take place without the suspects being present.  
 
Italian officials say they do not expect the Egyptian president will agree to extradite them. Among those under investigation are Major Magdy Ibrquaim Abdelaal Sharif and his superior, Colonel Osan Helmy, both of Egypt’s National Security Agency.  
 
In 2016 Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt due to lack of cooperation from the Egyptian authorities. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has pressed President el-Sissi for cooperation in several phone calls in the five years since the student’s murder.  
 
“Conte managed to secure some material but often it was unhelpful,” an Italian official told VOA. He cited CCTV footage from a Cairo metro station where Regeni was last seen, but there were crucial gaps in the recording. Italian authorities were able to secure the phone records of the suspects.
 
In 2018, el-Sissi promised to bring Regeni’s killers to justice, but issued a statement rejecting Rome’s list of suspects. Last year, Regeni’s exasperated parents, Paola and Claudio, issued a counter-statement, saying, “We cannot be satisfied by your condolences anymore, nor by your failed promises.” Regeni’s family and rights campaigners have been critical of Rome for not pressuring Cairo more and continuing to conduct arms deals with Egypt, including the sale of two frigates.  
On Friday, a spokesman for el-Sissi said instructions have been given to Egyptian officials to cooperate fully with Italian counterparts. He underlined the “unprecedented” judicial cooperation already offered.  
 
Regeni disappeared on 25 January 2016 — the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.  
 Rights activists arrested
 
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government this week has faced an international outcry following the arrests of members of a leading Egyptian human rights organization. Three NGO workers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, EIPR, including its executive director Gasser Abdel Razek, were seized after meeting with foreign diplomats. The charges against them include belonging to a terrorist organization, undermining public security by spreading false information and using the Internet to promulgate false news.
 
Razek’s lawyer told reporters his client’s head had been shaved and he is being kept in solitary confinement without mattress or blankets and with no heat.
 
Several countries have condemned the arrests. Britain’s foreign office told the Egyptian government “all human rights defenders should be able to work without fear of arrest or reprisals.” The European Union has voiced “significant concern” over the arrests. And President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to be U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, tweeted: “Meeting with foreign diplomats is not a crime. Nor is peacefully advocating for human rights.”
 Share concern re. #Egypt’s arrests of three employees of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Meeting with foreign diplomats is not a crime. Nor is peacefully advocating for human rights. https://t.co/hR5JtLcAYI— Antony Blinken (@ABlinken) November 20, 2020Egypt says EIPR was not registered and says the international protests amount to interference in the country’s internal affairs.
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The U.S. Navy says one of its warships conducted a freedom of navigation operation Tuesday in the Sea of Japan, making a rare challenge to a controversial maritime claim by Russia.Russia’s defense ministry said that in response to the operation, one of its military ships “stopped” the USS John S. McCain destroyer by threatening it with a warning that it would be rammed out of the disputed waters in the vicinity of Peter the Great Bay.“The Russian Federation’s statement about this mission is false. USS John S. McCain was not ‘expelled’ from any nation’s territory,” the Navy said Tuesday, adding that the operation was “in accordance with international law” in international waters. The area has been in dispute since 1984, when the Soviet Union declared it part of its waters. Russia has maintained that claim.“The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle, and the United States will never bow in intimidation or be coerced into accepting illegitimate maritime claims, such as those made by the Russian Federation,” the Navy added in its statement.FILE – The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain sails in formation during exercise Foal Eagle 2013 in waters west of the Korean peninsula in this March 21, 2013 handout photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy.The last U.S. military challenge to Russia’s maritime claims near Peter the Great Bay was in December 2018, according to the Navy. Prior to that, the last U.S. freedom of navigation operation in the area took place in 1987.The U.S. frequently conducts freedom of navigation operations in the western Pacific region to dispute excessive maritime claims by several countries, especially China, and to promote free passage through international waters.
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Britain announced Tuesday that travelers from abroad could face a shorter isolation period with a negative COVID-19 test days after their arrival.Current rules require 14 days of quarantine.  Starting December 15, travelers will have the option to pay for a test after five days, and if the test comes back negative, they will be free to end their self-isolation.In Germany, officials in 16 states are looking toward next months Christmas holiday and ways to make it safer for families to gather.The states have agreed among themselves on a proposal to tighten restrictions in the weeks ahead of the holiday in order to hold down the spread of the coronavirus, and then relax the rules to allow small gatherings.Officials are due to discuss the plan with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.Here’s How the Three COVID-19 Vaccines Compare Main differences seem to be in cost, storage and number of early doses available, but information is limited Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expressed his own concerns about Christmas, saying Tuesday people should not plan to go on ski trips.Conte said it would not be possible “to allow holidays on the snow.  We cannot afford it.”Italy was one of the hardest-hit nations in the early stages of the pandemic and on Monday became the sixth country in the world to surpass 50,000 deaths.Spain, another early hotspot, has seen a sharp decline in tourism like in many areas.  It’s national statistics office reported Tuesday the number of hotel nights booked in October was down 83% from the same time last year.There are concerns in the United States this week as the country celebrates its Thanksgiving holiday.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged people not to travel and hold large family gatherings amid a surge in COVID-19 infections across the country.More than 59 million people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.      The United States continues to lead the world in infections with more than 12.4 million cases, followed by India with more than 9.1 million infections and Brazil with 6 million.     The virus has killed about 1.4 million people.  More than 257,000 of those deaths were in the United States.
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Scotland’s High Court will begin hearing an appeal Tuesday of the conviction of a Libyan man found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing, the deadliest militant attack in British history. Pam Am Flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 en route from London to New York, an attack that killed 270 people, mostly Americans on their way home for Christmas. In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie who were killed in the attack. He is the only person to be convicted in the bombing.Megrahi, who denied involvement, died in Libya in 2012 after being released three years earlier by Scotland’s government on compassionate grounds following a diagnosis of terminal cancer.  FILE – Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing but released from his Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, is seen below a portrait of Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, Sept. 9, 2009.In March, an independent Scottish review body ruled his family could launch an appeal after concluding there might have been a miscarriage of justice. “Overturning of the verdict for the Megrahi family and many of the families of British victims also supporting the appeal, would vindicate their belief that the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom stand accused of having lived a monumental lie for 31 years,” the family’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said in a statement. Five judges will hear the appeal, including the head of Scotland’s judiciary, Lord Justice General Colin Sutherland. Megrahi first appealed in 2002 but this was refused by Scotland’s High Court. A second appeal was abandoned in 2009 just before his return to Libya. In 2003, then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi accepted his country’s responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the victims’ families but did not admit personally ordering the attack. However, Megrahi’s family and some relatives of the Scottish victims have always doubted his guilt.  
 
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The Australian airline company Qantas says it will require international travelers in the future to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to fly, as another pharmaceutical company announces progress in creating a potential vaccine to fight the coronavirus.In an interview with Australia’s Nine Network on Monday, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the company thinks such proof will be a necessity for international visitors in the future, adding, “whether you need that domestically, we’ll have to see what happens.”He said of requiring proof of vaccination, “I think that’s going to be a common thing, talking to my colleagues in other airlines around the globe.”FILE – Laboratory technicians work at the mAbxience biopharmaceutical company on an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and the laboratory AstraZeneca in Garin, Argentina, Aug. 14, 2020.His remarks point to how some industries and companies might want to use proof of COVID-19 vaccinations in their business models going forward, potentially setting up legal challenges from those who oppose such measures.The comments come as AstraZeneca said early Monday that clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in Britain and Brazil have shown it is “highly effective in preventing COVID-19” without “hospitalizations or severe cases of the disease” in any of the trial’s volunteers.The England-based pharmaceutical company says the vaccine was 70% effective overall, but there were differences between two dosing regimens. One was 90% effective. The other was 62%.”More data will continue to accumulate, and additional analysis will be conducted, refining the efficacy reading and establishing the duration of protection,” AstraZeneca said in a statement Monday.”These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives,” Professor Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial at Oxford, said in a statement.FILE – A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country’s first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, June 24, 2020.AstraZeneca said it “will seek an Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization for an accelerated pathway to vaccine availability in low-income countries. In parallel, the full analysis of the interim results is being submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.”Drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have also announced initial results from late-stage trials showing their vaccines were nearly 95% effective.  Vaccination plansCountries have begun laying out plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, with Germany and the United States preparing to vaccinate some populations as early as next month.German Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters Sunday that there “is reason to be optimistic” that a vaccine would be approved in Europe before the end of the year, and that after approval, vaccinations could begin “right away.”The United States has set preliminary plans to begin vaccinating some groups as early as December 12, two days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to review the Pfizer vaccine.Health care workers in the United States, who have been hard-hit by COVID-19, would be among the first to receive a vaccine.WATCH: Vaccines Raise Hopes of Rapid Global RolloutSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Licensed vocational nurse Caren Williams, left, collects a nasal swab sample from a traveler at a COVID-19 testing site at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Nov. 23, 2020.California Governor Gavin Newsom and his family are in quarantine after three of his children were exposed to a Highway Patrol officer who tested positive for COVID-19.The Associated Press reports that China has imposed new lockdowns on three cities, Shanghai, Tianjin and Manzhouli, where a handful of COVID-19 cases have reemerged.More than 59 million people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus, the Johns Hopkins Resource Center reported Monday.The United States continues to lead the world in infections with more than 12 million cases, followed by India with more than 9 million infections and Brazil with 6 million.The virus has claimed nearly 1.4 million lives. More than a quarter million of those deaths were in the U.S. 
 
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A coronavirus vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has shown successful results in early trials. If it is approved by regulators, the vaccine appears suitable for a fast rollout around the globe. Early analysis of trials involving 20,000 volunteers in Britain and Brazil show the vaccine is at least 62% effective after two doses. In volunteers given a different dosing regimen — a half dose, followed by a full dose — that figure rose to 90%. The average efficacy of the two dosing methods is 70%. None of those given the vaccine developed severe COVID-19 illness. Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the recent successful trials of three different vaccines by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, represent a scientific breakthrough. “It really feels like a great moment that we’ve got now multiple vaccines. If we can get them rolled out as soon as possible, we’re going to have a big impact,” Pollard said. Differences from other vaccinesAstraZeneca plans to begin supplying hundreds of millions of doses by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval. Several properties of the vaccine make it suitable for global rollout, according to Peter Drobac, a global health expert at the University of Oxford, who did not work on the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine. “The first is cost,” Drobac said. “So, this vaccine has been priced at about one-fifth to one-tenth of the cost reportedly being sought by Pfizer and Moderna, some of the other leading vaccine candidates.” AstraZeneca has pledged it will not make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic.  Secondly, “in 10 countries, it’s already being manufactured, including a very large manufacturing partner in India. So, we hope to see very large numbers of doses become available very quickly. And then thirdly, this vaccine only required kind of fridge-temperature storage,” Drobac told VOA. By contrast, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires storage at minus 70 degrees Celsius. Many health systems in developing nations lack refrigeration facilities to store medicines at such ultra-cold temperatures. COVAXSo far, 188 countries have signed up to an initiative called COVAX, where richer countries invest in the development of several vaccines and the infrastructure required for rolling them out across the globe.  “The goal in a perfect world would be that each of the countries that signs up for COVAX would receive enough vaccine for 20% of their populations by the end of 2021,” Drobac said. “Now, that’s an aspiration of course, not a guarantee. But that would allow every country to at least begin to cover the most vulnerable, front-line workers, etc.” The human rights organization Amnesty International praised Oxford University. “However, much more needs to be done to ensure that everyone, everywhere can benefit from these life-saving products, and without further action, vaccine supply for lower-income countries will remain perilously low,” Amnesty said in a statement Monday.  It is possible the leading vaccine candidates will be given emergency approval by regulators in the coming weeks, raising hopes that the world is on the brink of a major breakthrough in the fight against the pandemic.
In the meantime, doctors say it is vital that people follow measures to suppress the transmission of the virus.
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled an updated plan for handling Britain’s COVID-19 infection after the country’s partial national lockdown is lifted December 2.In video message to Parliament Monday, Johnson said the lockdown will be lifted next Wednesday as promised. He said although Britain will return to the regional system that was in place prior to the lockdown, he has received scientific advice indicating the tiers need to be tougher to adequately reduce the infection rate.In the new tier 1, people will be required to work from home if they can. In tier 2, pubs will only be able to serve drinks with a “substantial meal.” And in tier 3, indoor entertainment and hotels will close, and restaurants and pubs will only be allowed to open for take-out.As before, Johnson said the tiers will be determined based on the rate of COVID-19 infections in each area, with the toughest measures implemented where the disease is most prevalent. The government will announce which areas will be under which tier later this week.A woman walks through the Burlington Arcade adorned with Christmas decorations, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in London, Nov. 23, 2020.Johnson said more regions will fall, at least temporarily, into higher levels than before. But, he said, with tougher restrictions and more rapid coronavirus testing, it should be possible for areas to move to lower levels of restrictions fairly quickly.The prime minister said people should not expect a normal Christmas holiday this year, saying, “This virus is obviously not going to grant a Christmas truce, it doesn’t know it’s Christmas.” He did say his government was working to develop “a special time-limited Christmas dispensation” plan that would allow families to come together, while minimizing the risk.Britain has recorded 18,662 new cases and 398 deaths in the last 24 hours. Of these, 16,668 are in England, 844 in Scotland, 808 in Wales and 342 in Northern Ireland. There are now more than 1.5 million cases recorded in total, and deaths have crossed 55,000.
 
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Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has urged his country to do what is necessary to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control, warning that “people’s health and lives are in danger.”
In a rare televised address late Sunday, Lofven said too many people have neglected guidelines and recommendations regarding the virus in recent months. He called on fellow Swedes to stay home and not mix with people outside their homes.
“If you live alone, choose one, or at most two, friends to socialize with. But keep a distance, he said.
Last week, the government moved to cut the size of public gatherings sharply as it sought to come to grips with a second wave of the pandemic that has seen record daily numbers of new cases and growing pressure on hospitals.
The resurgence of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, hit Sweden weeks later than much of continental Europe, but the number of new infections has picked up speed since the turn of the month, with rising admissions to intensive care units and general COVID-19 wards.
Sweden opted for a different and much debated approach to handling the pandemic by keeping large sections of society open. It relied mainly on recommendations to the population to maintain social distancing and just repeated pleas to act responsibly.
As the weather turned colder, Sweden saw a rapid increase in new cases. Lofven said the jump in cases strained medical services and forced the government to take stricter measures, including a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol after 10 p.m. in bars and restaurants.
Lofven urged citizens to act for the good of the nation.  
“One day when this crisis is over, we all should be able to remember how we helped each other. Remember the solidarity. Remember the sense of community and the feeling of doing the right thing,” he said.
Swedish journalists reported that the national address Lofven gave has happened only four times in the nation’s history. Lofven has delivered two of them this year.  
Sweden has reported more than 208,290 cases and 6,400 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak.
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