In brief: news from around the Pacific rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Students will have to wait to get home
The Solomon Islands government is holding back on repatriating its students from Fiji after more of them tested positive for Covid-19.
In a national address, prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, said 22 students and dependents have so far tested positive for the virus.
The Fijian authorities said 13 of those are active cases, which Mr Sogavare describes as extremely worrying.
He said there were 850 Solomon Islanders studying in Fiji, just over 50 of whom had graduated and were ready to return home.
But the Prime minister also said Fijian health officials are unsure when it will be safe to do so.
Adjust font size:
BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
TASHKENT Uzbekistan has started a phase-3 trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese company Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, the Uzbek Ministry of Innovative Development said Thursday.
The launching ceremony was attended by Uzbek officials, Chinese Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jiang Yan, Chairman and General Director of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Company Jiang Rensheng, and researchers from the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it said.
- - - -
DHAKA Bangladesh recorded 1,861 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 37 new deaths on Thursday, raising its total tally to 485,965 with 6,967 deaths, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.