Australia promises free coronavirus vaccine to all

Soldiers clean and disinfect the external area of the Municipal Market in the Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Pic/AFP

Australia has announced a deal to manufacture a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZenec.

"Under the deal, every single Australian will be able to receive the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for free, should trials prove successful, safe and effective," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement on Wednesday.

Morrison said the Oxford University trial was in a phase-three stage and more work was needed to prove its viability.

"If this vaccine proves successful, we will manufacture and supply vaccines straight away under our own steam and make it free for 25 million Australians," Morisson said.

Morrison said there was no guarantee that the vaccine would be successful, "which is why we are continuing our discussions with many parties around the world while backing our own researchers at the same time to find a vaccine."

Rich can't get priority: Pope

Meanwhile, Pope Francis on Wednesday warned against any prospect that rich people would get priority for a coronavirus vaccine. "The pandemic is a crisis. You don't come out of it the same " either better or worse,'' Francis said, adding improvised remarks to his planned speech for his weekly public audience. "We must come out better" from the pandemic, he said.

Sad if poor isn't helped

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the pope said, the world can't return to normality if normal means social injustice and degradation of the natural environment. Francis said: "How sad it would be if for the COVID-19 vaccine priority is given to the richest." He also said it would be scandalous if all the economic assistance in the works, most of it using public funds, ends up reviving industries that don't help the poor or the environment.

25m

Approx population of Australia

At 20,125, Iran has highest deaths in Middle East

Iran surpassed 20,000 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the health ministry said - the highest death toll for any Middle East country so far in the pandemic. The announcement came as the Islamic Republic went ahead with university entrance exams for over 1 million students. Iran is also preparing for mass Shiite commemorations later this month. Iran has 3,50,279 confirmed infections so far.

Highest daily spike since Mar: S Korea

South Korea has reported 297 new cases of the coronavirus, its biggest daily rise since early March, as the country began restricting gatherings in the greater capital area amid fears that transmissions are getting out of control. The country's caseload increased to 16,058, including 306 death

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s. It was the sixth straight day the country reported daily increases in triple digits.