TOP HEADLINES 

• Medical equipment discarded during the COVID-19 pandemic itself threatens human health and the environment, a World Health Organization report has warned. Discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles have created tens of thousands of tonnes of medical waste. 

The material, some of which could be infectious since coronavirus can survive on surfaces, potentially exposes health workers to burns, needle-stick injuries and disease-causing germs, the report said, while communities close to poorly-managed landfills can be affected through contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease-carrying pests.

The report estimates that 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment had been ordered via a U.N. portal up until November 2021, most of which is thought to have ended up as waste. The report also mentions 140 million test kits with a potential to generate 2,600 tonnes of mostly plastic trash and enough chemical waste to fill one-third of an Olympic swimming pool.

• Romania reported a record high of 40,018 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, government data showed, with hospitalizations rising as the country's vaccine uptake lags.

Romania is the European Union's second-least vaccinated country after Bulgaria, with roughly 41 percent of the population fully inoculated. On Monday there were 903 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units across the country, of which 84 percent are not vaccinated, official data showed.

From Tuesday, Romania has dropped a requirement for incoming travelers to quarantine if they are vaccinated, have proof of recovery from COVID-19 or can provide a negative test result, regardless of where they are coming from.

• Russia again reported a record daily number of COVID-19 cases, 125,836, up from 124,070 a day earlier. The government coronavirus task force also reported 663 deaths in the last 24 hours. 

• The Spanish medicines agency has authorized pharmaceutical firm Hipra to carry out phase III trials of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing. Phase III is the last round of testing prior to seeking authorization to market a drug.

Hipra began phase II trials in November that involved testing the vaccine on 1,000 volunteers across 10 hospitals in Spain. Hipra has said on its website that it anticipates being able to produce 600 million doses in 2022 and double that figure the following year.

• The UK government plans to revoke its decision to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for health workers in England after warnings that an already-stretched service could face serious staff shortages.

The policy would have required employees in the state-run National Health Service and social care workers to be fully vaccinated by April 1, meaning they would have to receive their first shot this week to meet that deadline.

Health minister Sajid Javid said on Monday the government would launch a consultation into whether the policy was still needed: "Subject to the responses...the government will revoke the regulations," Javid told parliament.

• Travel agents in Greece demonstrated by driving buses through the streets of Thessaloniki to raise awareness of their industry's struggle during the pandemic. With horns and black sails on bus mirrors, they protested the serious effects of COVID-19 restrictions on their industry. According to tour bus owners and drivers, their industry has been severely affected in the last two years, with the state taking no action to support them.

• Italy's national Catholic military chaplain has hit back at a renegade, vaccine-denying archbishop, accusing him of inciting insubordination among the armed forces and police over their role in enforcing COVID-19 laws. The national chaplain, Archbishop Santo Marciano, issued a statement to all military and law enforcement personnel on Monday night, hours after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano made a statement urging them to disobey orders and not be "automatons".

• Britain has started counting possible COVID-19 reinfections in its daily coronavirus data, reflecting the increased number of people catching the disease for a second time as the Omicron variant predominates. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) added around 840,000 cases to the cumulative total, taking it to 17.3 million coronavirus infections reported. The change took effect on Monday.

"Reinfection remained at very low levels until the start of the Omicron wave. It is right that our daily reporting processes reflect how the virus has changed," said Steven Riley, UKHSA's Director General of Data and Analytics.

• The World Health Organization is among the nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, as put forward by Norwegian politicians. Other candidates proposed include British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Tuvalu's foreign minister Simon Kofe.

Although the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, Norwegian lawmakers have a strong track record of proposing eventual Peace laureates, having done so seven times in the last eight years. 

• UK foreign minister Liz Truss is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. Truss, who announced plans in parliament on Monday to toughen sanctions on Russia if it invaded Ukraine, was due to visit Kyiv this week as part of diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis.

"I tested positive for COVID-19 this evening," Truss said on Twitter. "Thankfully I've had my three jabs and will be working from home while I isolate."

• Finland's Olympic champion Iivo Niskanen hopes his Norwegian rivals overcome a COVID-19 outbreak to reach the start line at the Beijing Games. Three Norwegian skiers and a coach tested positive, casting doubt over their participation in the Olympics.

"It is everything other than an optimal situation when bunches (of skiers) drop off from the competitions, especially when they are asymptomatic, but there's still time," said Niskanen, who won gold in the men's 50km race in Pyeongchang four years ago, after testing out the cross-country course in Zhangjiakou together with his sister Kerttu.

Kerttu Niskanen, who won two silver medals at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, also expressed sympathy for her rivals: "We are enemies out on the course, but you wouldn't wish this on anyone. When it comes to the Olympics, you want the best on the start line." 

• The head of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympics will not attend Beijing 2022, having tested positive for COVID-19. Tony Estanguet, who won three Olympic golds in the canoe slalom, was at the start of last year's Tokyo Olympics after also attending part of the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. 

Estanguet will now stay in France, with Paris 2024 CEO Etienne Thobois expecting to make the trip. French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu will also fly to Beijing during the Games to visit French athletes.

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