TOP HEADLINES 

• The European Ombudsman has criticized the European Commission for failing to search for text messages between its President Ursula Von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, which may have been sent before the EU sealed a vaccine deal with the pharmaceutical giant. 

In response to a public access request by a journalist, the Commission had said no record had been kept of such messages. 

"The narrow way in which this public access request was treated meant that no attempt was made to identify if any text messages existed. This falls short of reasonable expectations of transparency and administrative standards in the Commission," said the Ombudsman's Emily O'Reilly, who also asked the Commission to check again for the relevant messages. 

• The head of the Paris hospitals system has questioned whether people who refuse to be vaccinated should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance. Under France's universal healthcare system, all patients who end up in intensive care are fully covered for their treatment, which costs about $3,300 per day and typically lasts a week to 10 days. "When free and efficient drugs are available, should people be able to renounce it without consequences ... while we struggle to take care of other patients?" asked Paris AP-HP hospitals system chief Martin Hirsch.

• Russia's daily cases surged to 98,040 on Friday – a new record high for the eighth consecutive day. 

• Ukraine also suffered a record daily high of 34,408 new infections, while Turkey also recorded its highest number of new cases, with 82,180.

• COVID-19 boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95 percent in people aged 50 or over, said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The UKHSA said that around six months after a second dose of any of the vaccines, protection against death from Omicron was around 60 percent in those aged 50 and over – but this increased to around 95 percent two weeks after receiving a booster dose. UKHSA added that the booster shows high levels of protection against hospitalization: the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was at 90 percent up to 10 weeks after the booster, while Moderna was up to 95 percent effective nine weeks after the booster.

• The EU's drug regulator has endorsed Pfizer's antiviral pill for treating adults at risk of severe illness. The European Medicines Agency approved it for emergency use next year and if the European Commission ratifies this latest guidance, member states will be able to offer to all high-risk patients before they develop symptoms. Italy, Germany and Belgium are among a handful of countries that have bought the drug, branded as Paxlovid. 

"Paxlovid is the first oral antiviral for home use in our portfolio, and has the potential to make a real difference for persons at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19," said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

• Sweden has decided not to recommend vaccines for children aged between five and 11, with the Health Agency deciding the benefits did not outweigh the risks. "With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don't see any clear benefit with vaccinating them," said Health Agency official Britta Bjorkholm.

• Finland will begin easing restrictions from February 1, instead of mid-February as initially planned, amid signs of stabilization in the infection rate caused by the Omicron variant of the virus. 

• Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month. Bars, nightclubs and restaurants had been forced to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to Omicron. "We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks," Health Minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.

• Double Olympic champion Simen Krueger is the latest Norwegian cross-country skier to test positive, following a coach and two other skiers. The athletes remain in Seiser Alm, Italy, where they had their final altitude training camp last weekend.

• A man who accosted the British government's top medical adviser Chris Whitty in a video broadcast on social media has been jailed for eight weeks after he admitted intending to cause distress. The video, viewed widely on social media, showed two men jeering as they grabbed Whitty as he walked through a London park last summer. Jonathan Chew, 24, pleaded guilty to intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress. The other man, Lewis Hughes, was previously given an eight-week custodial sentence, suspended for two years.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: Spain's nasal vaccine targeting 'complete immunity'

CGTN China: Chinese mainland confirms 64 COVID-19 cases

CGTN America: Path back to normality after COVID-19 remains fuzzy

CGTN Africa: Africa CDC: Continent on course to vaccinate 70 percent this year