OVERVIEW: Worldwide Coronavirus Developments

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has agreed to help CureVac produce its experimental vaccine, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed Pfizer and its partner BionTech will deliver 75 million extra doses to the European Union in the second quarter. Reuters Staff U.S.

(Reuters) - German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has agreed to help CureVac produce its experimental vaccine, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed Pfizer and its partner BionTech will deliver 75 million extra doses to the European Union in the second quarter.

* Portugal reported close to half of all its COVID-19 deaths in January, highlighting the severe worsening of the pandemic in a country that had largely been spared by the first waves of the coronavirus.

* Poland has found its first case of COVID-19 in mink, the agriculture ministry said, raising fears of costly culls in an industry that counts over 350 farms in the country.

* Hong Kong will extend social distancing measures for a further two weeks until after the Chinese New Year holiday, and will impose stricter testing rules when cases of COVID-19 are detected.

Japan is expected to extend a state of emergency to fight the spread of COVID-19 this week for Tokyo and other areas as hospitals remain under pressure despite a decline in cases from their peaks.

* South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks until the end of the Lunar New Year holidays as new infection clusters emerge in the country.

* China reported the lowest daily increase in new COVID-19 cases in more than three weeks on Monday, reversing a sharp uptick a day earlier.

* The COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme expects to deliver 35.3 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to 36 Caribbean and Latin American states from mid-February to the end of June, the World Health Organization’s regional office said.

* Chicago Public Schools on Sunday delayed the resumption of in-person classes for thousands of elementary and middle school students by at least a day, as the district and teachers failed to reach an agreement on a safety plan. ...

* About 1,500 of the initial volunteers in a late-stage clinical trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were given the wrong dose, but weren’t informed that a mistake had been made after the blunder was discovered, documents obtained by Reuters show. ...