OVERVIEW: Briefs on coronavirus international developments

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus Sweden, Portugal, Latvia and Slovenia joined a number of the European Union states in suspending AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots over concerns of possible serious side-effects, while the World Health Organization said there was no proven link and people should not panic. Reuters Staff U.S.

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* Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said.

* A new coronavirus variant has been found in the French region of Brittany, said the French health ministry, adding that initial analysis did not show this new variant to be more serious or transmissible than others.

* AstraZeneca will supply up to half a million extra doses of its experimental antibody-based COVID-19 combination therapy to the United States.

* Canada will update its guidelines on AstraZeneca vaccine to recommend that it be administered to people aged 65 years and older, CBC News reported.

* Venezuela will not authorise AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said, citing unspecified “effects on patients”.

* Mexico has asked the United States to share doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine it has in stock, a senior diplomat said, following up on a request made by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to his counterpart Joe Biden.

* Brazil has signed a deal with Pfizer to purchase 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

* India, Cambodia and the Philippines’ capital Manila expanded curbs and issued new safety recommendations amid a sharp rise in infections.

* Japan’s Suga received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in preparation for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden next month, becoming the country’s first government official to be publicly inoculated. ...