Coronavirus live news: US 'won't cooperate with WHO on vaccine' as Europe

White House condemns ‘corrupt’ international work on treatment; top UK doctor suggest Covid-19 could ‘fizzle out’; Hungary closes borders again. Follow all the developments live

The US refusal to cooperate on an international Covid-19 vaccine effort with what it calls the “corrupt” World Health Organisation and China has been met with despair by leading experts.

The WHO has warned against “vaccine nationalism” that could prevent the distribution of a treatment around the world. It has set up a Covid-19 vaccines global access facility (Covax), along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to accelerate the development and testing of a vaccine and work toward distributing it equally.

The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health,. It’s about, are you a reliable partner or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself?

Related: US refuses to join international effort to develop Covid-19 vaccine

Confirmed deaths in Colombia due to Covid-19 passed 20,000 on Tuesday, the health ministry said in its daily update, while it has recorded more than 620,000 cases.

The Andean country has so far reported 20,052 deaths and 624,069 cases of the novel coronavirus. Active cases stand at 133,155. This week Colombia ended its initial quarantine measures after nearly five months of national lockdowns.

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