Briefly

SOUTH AFRICA

Waiver on vaccine patents welcomed

Ebrahim Patel, South Africa's minister of trade, industry and competition, on Saturday welcomed an agreement announced by the World Trade Organization, or WTO, for the waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents. The deal came 20 months after the African nation proposed a broad waiver on the patents to combat the pandemic. The WTO's 12th ministerial conference closed on Friday at dawn at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, with members agreeing on key issues covering the pandemic and the TRIPS(Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver related to COVID-19. The agreement allows governments to authorize local manufacturers to produce vaccines or their ingredients and use processes that are covered by patents without the permission of the patent holders for five years.

UNITED STATES

Jake Sullivan latest at White House with virus

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Sullivan, 45, is asymptomatic and has not been in close contact with US President Joe Biden, according to Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. He is the latest member of the Biden administration to have been infected with the coronavirus. According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States has reported nearly 86 million COVID-19 cases and over 1 million related deaths. On the same day as Sullivan's positive test, US health authorities cleared COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for children aged 5 and younger.

Xinhua - Agencies