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| - Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts talks with European Union officials and Covid-19 vaccine makers as the bloc desperately seeks to boost its sluggish inoculation campaign. Hours before the meeting BioNTech and Pfizer say they will ramp up their vaccine deliveries to the 27-nation EU, pledging to send up to 75 million extra doses in the next few months. And the EU executive indicates that it is shifting its early Covid-19 vaccination strategy away from AstraZeneca after the Anglo-Swedish company fell far short in its delivery of doses. South Africa takes delivery of its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines, one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, paving the way to the first phase of inoculation in Africa's worst-hit country. President Cyril Ramaphosa announces in an address to the nation South Africa has "passed the peak" of the second virus wave, allowing for the easing of restrictions ahead of first vaccinations this month. Health officials in England say they will increase testing in eight areas where nearly a dozen South African Covid-19 variant cases have been identified in the last week. The US economy will recover from the coronavirus pandemic by the middle of 2021, but employment not until 2024, the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says. Russia's economy contracted by 3.1 percent in 2020 as the oil producing nation was hit by lockdowns and plunging global crude prices. French border police turn away some passengers bound for non-EU destinations as new rules come into force banning flights to and from countries outside the bloc. Germany says it will send medical experts, field hospital beds and respiratory machines to Portugal where hospitals are struggling to cope with the worst coronavirus infections surge in the world. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says restaurants opening illegally during lockdown will have relief payments cut after two dozen in Paris alone were caught serving in secret -- including one opposite the police headquarters. Emirates Airline says it will make daily deliveries of coronavirus vaccines to countries with low storage capacities as part of an initiative to accelerate global jab distribution. Most regions of Italy are now allowing bars, restaurants and museums to open during the day. Poland is reopening museums, libraries, galleries and shopping malls. Tajikistan reopens its religious buildings. The number of rhinos killed in South Africa in 2020 dropped by 33 percent, official figures show, partly helped by a national lockdown which severely limited movement by poachers. The coronavirus has killed more than 2,227,605 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources. The countries with the most deaths are the US with 441,331, Brazil with 224,504 and Mexico with 158,536. The global death toll, calculated from official daily figures published by national health authorities, is an underestimate. It does not include later revisions by statistics agencies. burs-nrh-jmy/ach
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