Agency Reporter

Japan’s cabinet on Friday approved $3.7 billion for emergency spending in reserve funds to combat the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Using an allocation of 311.93 billion yen ($2.99 billion), the Japanese government will, controversially, extend the “Go To Travel” campaign which was set to end in January for another five months to purportedly bolster the nation’s ailing tourism sector and help boost the broader economy.

The government will also use 73.69 billion yen ($708.11 million) to provide low-income single parents with more financial support.

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A total of 11.5 trillion yen ($110.49 billion) has been set aside under its two extra budgets for fiscal 2020 through next March to focus directly on the downside economic effects caused by the pandemic.

An Australian COVID-19 vaccine under development by the University of Queensland (UQ) and local biotech firm CSL will not progress to Phase 2/3 trials after returning false-positive HIV test results.

Relevant parties announced yesterday  that in spite of eliciting an effective virus response and strong safety profile, a deal for the Australian government to purchase over 50 million doses of the vaccine had been canceled.