Coronavirus newest: India begins vaccine exports with cargo to Bhutan

Nikkei Asia is monitoring the unfold of the brand new coronavirus that originated within the central Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan.

World instances have reached 96,144,818, in keeping with Johns Hopkins College in Baltimore. The worldwide dying toll has hit 2,056,300.

To see how the illness has unfold, view our virus tracker charts:

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Wednesday, Jan. 20 (Tokyo time)

3:11 p.m. India begins exporting coronavirus vaccines with the primary cargo to the neighboring Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the international ministry stated, in keeping with Reuters. “First consignment takes off for Bhutan!” Anurag Srivastava, spokesman for the Ministry of Exterior Affairs, stated on Twitter. “India begins provide of COVID vaccines to its neighboring and key companion international locations.” The Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and the Seychelles are additionally anticipated to get the pictures from the world’s largest vaccine-making nation.

3:06 p.m. Tokyo studies 1,274 new infections, up from 1,240 a day earlier, with the variety of sufferers in critical situation rising by 5 to a document excessive of 160.

2:08 p.m. India studies 13,823 instances within the final 24 hours — up from 10,064 yesterday — bringing the nation complete to just about 10.6 million. Deaths rose by 162 to 152,718.

1:37 p.m. Japan’s Skymark Airways stated it can briefly cease accepting reservations on about 70 % of its routes from Feb.15 to 28, as it’s contemplating suspending or decreasing flights throughout these dates because of the coronavirus pandemic.

1:05 p.m. South Korea could safe further coronavirus vaccines for 20 million individuals from U.S. drugmaker Novavax, President Moon Jae-in stated, in keeping with a press release from the presidential workplace on Wednesday. Novavax entered right into a improvement and provide settlement for its vaccine with South Korea’s SK bioscience Co final 12 months, in keeping with a press release in August.

12:17 p.m. Taiwan has cancelled or postponed extra large-scale occasions after a uncommon outbreak of domestically transmitted COVID-19 instances related to a hospital, the place the army has been despatched to assist with disinfection.

Taiwan, which has stored the pandemic nicely below management due to early and efficient prevention strategies, has been rattled by new home transmissions, first in December and now in a hospital within the northern metropolis of Taoyuan.

11:10 a.m. The Chinese language capital Beijing says it can examine all people who entered town from overseas since Dec. 10 and shut down a subway station after reporting the most important every day soar in new COVID-19 instances in additional than three weeks. The measures come amid what has turn into China’s most extreme an infection outbreak since March 2020 forward of the important thing Lunar New Yr vacation season when a whole bunch of tens of millions journey, elevating fears of one other main wave that would deliver the nation again to a debilitating standstill.

10:58 a.m. The U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday led a nationwide memorial observance on the eve of his inauguration to honor the 400,000 People who’ve perished from COVID-19 through the 11 months for the reason that novel coronavirus claimed its first U.S. life.

9:41 a.m. Mainland China studies 103 new COVID-19 instances for Tuesday, down from 118 a day earlier. The Nationwide Well being Fee says 88 of the brand new instances had been regionally transmitted. The variety of new asymptomatic instances, which China doesn’t classify as confirmed instances, fell to 58 from 91 a day earlier.

9:56 a.m. South Korea studies 404 new instances, up from 385 a day in the past. Whole infections attain 73,518 with 1,300 deaths.

9:14 a.m. Walt Disney says it eradicated performance-based bonuses final 12 months for high executives, together with Govt Chairman Bob Iger, because the conglomerate appears to be like to melt COVID-19 fallout. The pandemic dealt a serious blow to the corporate’s theme parks and film studios, although individuals sheltered at house signed up in droves for the brand new Disney+ streaming service.

7:58 a.m. Brazil is battling Chinese language paperwork to unlock exports of lively elements for vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech, Reuters studies. Regardless of the wrangling, extra Brazilian states administered their first pictures on Tuesday after having obtained some 6 million doses from China’s Sinovac. Nonetheless, pink tape in China is holding again provides wanted to complete and distribute tens of millions extra doses, Reuters’ sources say.

7:41 a.m. Brazil’s army flew medical personnel and 1,000 doses of a Chinese language vaccine deep into the Amazon rainforest on Tuesday to start out inoculating indigenous individuals in opposition to the coronavirus, Reuters studies.

7:01 a.m. With fewer than 1,550 instances and solely 35 deaths, Vietnam has been spared a 12 months of lockdowns, horrific physique counts, besieged hospitals and corrosive nationwide bickering. Discover out extra on this week’s The Massive Story.

6:30 a.m. As the primary anniversary of the Wuhan lockdown approaches, questions persist over what China knew about COVID-19 — and when China knew it. Learn it right here.

5:30 a.m. The COVID-19 dying toll within the U.S. surpasses 400,000, in keeping with information compiled by Johns Hopkins College’s Coronavirus Useful resource Heart.

Whereas hospitalization charges and new instances are displaying indicators of easing, the U.S. leads the world by far in deaths from the illness, with round 190,000 greater than the nation with the subsequent largest tally, Brazil.

5:10 a.m. Brazilian pharmaceutical firm Uniao Quimica plans to provide Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for export to different South American international locations, Reuters studies.

The corporate’s worldwide enterprise director, Rogerio Rosso, tells Reuters: “We don’t have to have the vaccine registered in Brazil to export it to different international locations which have authorized it.”

2:50 a.m. Australia’s metropolis dwellers are fleeing to suburbs and rural cities that supply simpler entry to nature, a development accelerated by the pandemic-induced shift to teleworking.

A four-bedroom home new available on the market in Killcare, a roughly 90-minute drive from Sydney, is garnering robust curiosity regardless of an asking worth of 1.7 million Australian {dollars} ($1.31 million). Its charms embrace a view of the seaside from larger floor.

“Now that we all know we are able to do business from home, we’re in search of a home with a great view inside strolling distance of a seaside,” says a 50-something officer at an info know-how firm who toured the property together with her husband.

Native house costs have climbed 35% on an inflow of consumers, mainly these leaving Sydney for “worth and life-style,” says Cathy Baker, principal of actual property firm Belle Property Killcare.

2:00 a.m. India will present domestically made coronavirus vaccine freed from cost to 6 Asian nations beginning Wednesday, the federal government says.

Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles will obtain exports of the vaccine, which India has already begun to distribute to its personal inhabitants on the earth’s largest coronavirus vaccination program.

Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius are additionally poised to obtain shipments as soon as all regulatory circumstances have been met.

India has authorized two coronavirus vaccines to date: Covishield, which was developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford College and is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India; and Covaxin, developed by India’s Bharat Biotech along side a government-backed institute.

12:00 a.m. The chief government of the London 2012 Olympics believes this 12 months’s Tokyo Video games are “unlikely” to happen, he tells the BBC.

“I believe they will depart it to completely the final minute in case the state of affairs improves dramatically, in case the vaccinations roll out quicker than all of us hoped,” Keith Mills says on Radio 5. “It is a robust name.”

“If I used to be sitting within the sneakers of the organizing committee in Tokyo, I might be planning for a cancellation and I am certain they’ve plans for a cancellation,” Mills says.

The issue will not be solely the host metropolis’s now rampant coronavirus unfold, in keeping with the entrepreneur.

“It isn’t simply the infections in Tokyo, it is the infections in all of the competing nations,” Mills says.

Tuesday, Jan. 19

11:30 p.m. Hong Kong’s public transportation operator MTR says it expects to report a internet lack of round 4.Eight billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($619 million) for 2020, which might mark the corporate’s first 12 months within the pink because it went public in 2000.

MTR blames the “vital adversarial affect” of the continued coronavirus pandemic and the deterioration of the native financial system for the document loss.

Hong Kong is mired within the so-called fourth wave of the coronavirus. The territory’s financial system, which was already affected by anti-government protests that started in the summertime 2019, has shrunk for 5 consecutive quarters by the July-to-September interval, sinking the worth of MTR-owned properties.

10:13 p.m. Japan studies a one-day tally of 5,320 new COVID-19 instances as of 8:15 p.m.

The nation’s coronavirus dying toll rises by 104 individuals, the primary every day enhance over 100. Osaka continues to steer Tokyo in COVID-19 deaths, at 765 to 744.

7:55 p.m. Russia’s shopper well being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor says Tuesday the nation’s second vaccine in opposition to COVID-19 is 100% efficient primarily based on the outcomes of medical trials, the TASS information company studies.

Russia started mass trials of EpiVacCorona, which is being developed by Siberia’s Vector Institute, in November.

7:29 p.m. Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, declares a state of emergency on Tuesday over the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Denny Tamaki says Okinawa’s emergency measures embrace asking eating places and bars to shut by Eight p.m. and residents to chorus from non-urgent outings after Eight p.m. The emergency is anticipated to final till Feb. 7.

6:05 p.m. Indonesia studies a document every day enhance of 308 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, taking complete deaths within the nation to 26,590, information from the well being ministry present. The nation additionally data 10,365 new COVID-19 instances, taking the full tally to 927,380.

6:01 p.m. Hong Kong says its unemployment price soared to a 16-year excessive of 6.6% within the closing quarter of 2020, as town reeled from a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections. The jobless price is anticipated to proceed to climb this 12 months, after the native authorities ended a job safety scheme that helps companies pay as much as half of workers’ salaries.

5:46 p.m. The Taiwan Lantern Pageant, held to mark the tip of Lunar New Yr festivities, might be canceled this 12 months due to COVID-19, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications says. The primary day of Lunar New Yr falls on Feb. 12 and the Taiwan Lantern Pageant was meant to happen Feb. 26 to March 7 this 12 months.

5:00 p.m. Taiwan has confirmed 4 native instances in a cluster. These instances had been traced to a health care provider who handled a COVID-19 affected person in a neighborhood medical heart within the metropolis of Taoyuan. Taiwan has tightened its illness prevention measures and the well being ministry has now requested the federal government to droop massive actions and occasions for the upcoming Lunar New Yr vacation. The well being ministry will begin to evacuate the Taoyuan hospital, the supply of the cluster.

4:30 p.m. Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture has issued its personal emergency warning for the unfold of COVID-19 after it was discovered that three residents with no document of touring to the U.Okay. had contracted the extremely transmissible U.Okay. COVID variant. Shizuoka requires residents to chorus from taking journeys outdoors prefectural borders except pressing and having meals with non-family members. The prefecture in central Japan will not be one of many 11 prefectures below a state of emergency the federal government declared this month.

3:20 p.m. Thailand’s cupboard has authorized about 210 billion baht ($6.99 billion) in money handouts to spice up consumption and assist alleviate the affect of a latest spike in coronavirus instances, a deputy authorities spokeswoman says. The federal government will provide 31.1 million individuals 3,500 baht monthly for 2 months, in keeping with Reuters.

3:05 p.m. Tokyo studies 1,240 new infections, up from 1,204 a day earlier, with the variety of sufferers in critical situation rising by 12 to a document excessive of 155.

3:00 p.m. Israel leads the world when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 individuals, which is now over 29, in keeping with figures from the Our World in Information web site. What has been described as a “miracle” by some within the media is in truth the results of a powerful public well being system, complete information, monetary assets and, maybe, an additional dose of political motivation because the virus continues to unfold.

2:10 p.m. India studies 10,064 instances within the final 24 hours, down from 13,788 yesterday and the bottom single-day spike in infections in over seven months, bringing the cumulative complete to 10.58 million. Fatalities rose by 137 to 152,556 in what was the bottom every day depend in about eight months.

1:50 p.m. The Philippines will purchase 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, the nation’s presidential spokesman says. Moderna’s vaccine provides to the Philippines’ offers to purchase a complete of 72 million doses from AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sinovac. The nation has additionally authorized Sinovac Biotech’s software for late-stage medical trial for its vaccine CoronaVac.

11:30 a.m. Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam says the federal government will lengthen social distancing measures attributable to expire this week as town stays on heightened alert after every day infections climbed again into triple digits. On Monday, Hong Kong reported 107 new instances, the very best quantity in almost a month.

11:15 a.m. Japan’s Taro Kono, who has been appointed to the newly created place of minister for COVID vaccination, says he’s accountable for transporting and storing vaccines in addition to organising venues for vaccination. “We’ll do every part in our energy to make sure that as many individuals as potential obtain protected and efficient vaccines as quickly as potential,” he stated. Whereas international locations such because the U.Okay. and the U.S. have begun vaccinations, Japan plans to launch its vaccination program by late February. Kono can be minister of regulatory reform.

10:30 a.m. China studies greater than 100 new COVID-19 instances for a seventh day within the worst home outbreak since March. The nation posted 118 new instances for Monday, up from 109 a day earlier. Of these, 106 had been native infections, with 43 reported in Jilin — a brand new every day document for the northeastern province — and 35 in Hebei Province, which surrounds Beijing.

10:00 a.m. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump units up a conflict together with his successor by rescinding entry bans imposed due to the coronavirus on most non-U.S. residents arriving from Brazil and far of Europe efficient Jan. 26. Incoming President Joe Biden plans to shortly lengthen the present journey restrictions barring journey by most individuals who’ve lately been in a lot of Europe and Brazil. Biden takes workplace on Wednesday.

9:48 a.m. South Korea studies 386 new instances, down from 389 a day in the past. Whole infections attain 73,115 with 1,283 deaths.

6:00 a.m. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asks Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla if the state might immediately purchase vaccine doses. The U.S. drugmaker, nonetheless, advised Reuters that it could first want approval by the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies.

5:39 a.m. Pakistan approves China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, two days after authorizing AstraZeneca’s vaccine developed with Oxford College. Pakistan is within the means of talking with a lot of vaccine producers, in keeping with Well being Minister Faisal Sultan, however has not but positioned an order for any vaccine.

4:22 a.m. An unbiased panel reviewing the worldwide dealing with of the pandemic says that Chinese language officers might have accomplished extra final January to curb the preliminary outbreak and criticizes the World Well being Group for not declaring a world emergency sooner. The professional panel, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, requires a “world reset” and reforms on the WHO.

2:14 a.m. Disneyland Paris pushes again reopening plans by almost two months to April 2 in gentle of the pandemic’s resurgence in Europe. The amusement park had deliberate to renew operations on Feb. 13.

Monday, Jan. 18

11:35 p.m. The World Well being Group expects to have entry to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine “very quickly,” in keeping with a senior WHO official. The inclusion of the drugmaker’s vaccine within the company’s program to share doses with poorer international locations is in superior negotiations, Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser, tells WHO’s government board.

9:21 p.m. China’s Sinovac Biotech says a medical trial in Brazil exhibits its COVID-19 vaccine to be almost 20 share factors more practical in a small subgroup of sufferers receiving two doses longer aside. The safety price for 1,394 contributors who acquired doses of both CoronaVac or a placebo three weeks aside was almost 70%, in keeping with a Sinovac spokesman. Brazilian researchers stated final week that the vaccine’s total efficacy was 50.4% primarily based on outcomes from greater than 9,000 volunteers, most of whom obtained doses two weeks aside, as outlined within the trial protocol.

9:19 p.m. Japan has doubtless recorded neighborhood transmission of a COVID-19 variant spreading within the U.Okay., the Ministry of Well being, Labor and Welfare says, because it confirms for the primary time a number of instances from individuals with no latest journey historical past overseas. The ministry discovered the pressure in 4 individuals, each female and male. Three had no historical past of journey to the U.Okay. or contact with vacationers from abroad.

8:03 p.m. Two personal hospitals in Thailand have ordered tens of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines forward of regulatory approval, Reuters studies. “We ordered 1 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine with an choice to purchase 9 million extra,” says Boon Vanasin, chairman of Thonburi Healthcare Group.

7:16 p.m. Uzbekistan plans to buy 100,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and arrange home manufacturing of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, says its well being ministry, which additionally added in a press release that the Central Asian nation of 34 million individuals is engaged on the Pfizer-BioNTech deal along with vaccine alliance Gavi.

6:47 p.m. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says {that a} new ministerial place has been created to make sure the sleek rollout of Japan’s vaccination program, and Taro Kono, presently administrative and regulatory reform minister, will tackle the extra function of overseeing vaccine distribution.

6:00 p.m. Singapore will resume internet hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian safety summit this 12 months after it was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic, organizers and the city-state’s authorities say. This 12 months’s occasion is scheduled to be held June Four to six. A spokeswoman for organizer Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research declined to touch upon the anticipated format or variety of attendees, in keeping with Reuters.

5:30 p.m. Malaysia will introduce 15 billion ringgit ($3.7 billion) price of further stimulus to help its pandemic-hit financial system and struggle COVID-19, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says.

4:00 p.m. Tokyo studies 1,204 instances — down from 1,592 a day earlier — because the capital tries to stem surging infections below a state of emergency, which can keep in impact till Feb. 7, on the earliest.

3:30 p.m. Swiss authorities put two resorts below quarantine and shut ski faculties within the posh resort of St. Moritz to attempt to curb an outbreak of a extremely infectious coronavirus variant. The japanese canton of Grisons ordered everybody to put on masks within the city of 5,200 that prides itself as a birthplace of contemporary winter sports activities. “A few dozen instances are presently recognized in two resorts,” the canton stated in a press release. Mass testing of residents will happen on Tuesday.

3:00 p.m. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledges to deliver the pandemic below management in Japan “as quickly as potential” and proceed preparations to host the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer season.

2:11 p.m. India studies 13,788 instances for the previous 24 hours, down from 15,144 yesterday, bringing the nation complete to 10.57 million. Deaths elevated by 145 to 152,419.

1:30 p.m. China studies greater than 100 new instances for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections within the northeast. Authorities report 109 new instances for Sunday, unchanged from a day earlier, with 93 native instances, 54 of which had been in Hebei Province, which surrounds Beijing, and one other 30 in Jilin Province. Authorities are implementing aggressive measures, together with a lockdown of greater than 29 million individuals.

11:00 a.m. China’s gross home product in 2020 grew on the tailwind of funding and consumption, backed by a comparatively speedy restoration from the COVID-19 pandemic that additionally fueled exports. Full-year progress got here in at 2.3% 12 months on 12 months, the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics says, larger than the median 2.1% projected by 35 economists polled by Nikkei.

9:56 a.m. South Korea studies 389 new instances, down from 520 a day in the past. Whole infections attain 72,729 with 1,264 deaths. Simpler social distancing guidelines start in the present day, letting cafes and health facilities run their indoor companies for restricted numbers of shoppers.

7:30 a.m. England will launch the subsequent section of its vaccination program on Monday, providing pictures to individuals aged 70 and above and people who are thought of clinically extraordinarily weak to the virus. This system has centered on individuals 80 and older in addition to frontline well being and care workers.

2:53 a.m. Brazilian well being regulator Anvisa approves vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca for emergency use. Brazil has misplaced greater than 200,000 to COVID-19 — the worst dying toll outdoors the U.S.

Sunday, Jan. 17

9:36 p.m. Oman will shut its land borders for one week from Monday to curb the unfold of the coronavirus, particularly a extra contagious variant, state information company ONA stated. The measure will come into impact from 6 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday and could be prolonged for longer than the preliminary one-week closure.

6:46 p.m. India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive hit a bump on the primary day attributable to glitches in an app referred to as Co-Win that’s getting used to coordinate the marketing campaign, in keeping with a number of officers concerned within the immunization program. Co-Win, developed by the federal government, is meant to assist by alerting well being care staff who’re first in line to get pictures, and by permitting officers to watch and handle all the drive. However many well being staff, who had been to obtain the vaccines, didn’t get the message on Saturday, stated a senior official with the well being division of the western state of Maharashtra.

3:29 p.m. Tokyo studies 1,592 new coronavirus instances, its authorities says. Japan expanded a state of emergency within the capital space to seven extra prefectures on Wednesday to stem a surge in COVID-19 infections.

1:56 p.m. Thailand studies 374 new coronavirus instances, taking its complete infections to 12,054. No deaths had been reported, whereas 10 of the brand new instances had been imported from overseas, Thailand’s COVID-19 process drive says at a briefing. Thailand has recorded 70 coronavirus-related deaths since a 12 months in the past.

10:05 a.m. Mexico studies 20,523 new confirmed coronavirus instances and 1,219 extra fatalities on Saturday, in keeping with the Well being Ministry, bringing its complete to 1,630,258 infections and 140,241 deaths.

10:04 a.m. Brazilian well being regulator Anvisa stated on Saturday it despatched again paperwork submitted by pharmaceutical firm Uniao Quimica looking for approval for emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as a result of they didn’t meet the minimal required standards. In a press release on the Well being Ministry web site, Anvisa stated the corporate’s request failed to offer enough assurances on its Part III medical trials and points associated to the manufacture of the vaccine.

Saturday, Jan. 16

10:30 p.m. Azerbaijan will start vaccinating residents on Monday, utilizing a batch of Four million doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech, the Well being Ministry says.

First in line to obtain the shot might be medical staff adopted by individuals over 65, beginning Feb. 1, presidential aide Shahmar Movsumov says. The doses might be transported first to Turkey, the place they are going to be checked and packaged, earlier than arriving in batches to Azerbaijan.

Elsewhere, Turkey has despatched 20,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine to the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Thursday, with President Ersin Tatar receiving the primary dose on Friday.

8:04 p.m. The Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine is granted approval for emergency use in Pakistan, the nation’s well being minister says, the primary vaccine in opposition to the illness to be given the inexperienced gentle within the South Asian nation.

7:46 p.m. Malaysia data 4,029 new coronavirus instances, the most important every day enhance within the nation for the reason that begin of the pandemic, bringing the full infections to 155,095. The Well being Ministry additionally studies eight new deaths, taking the full to 594.

5:32 p.m. Indonesia studies a document every day enhance in COVID-19 instances with 14,224 new infections, its coronavirus process drive says, bringing the full to 896,642. It additionally studies 283 deaths, bringing the full to 25,767. Indonesia has reported the very best complete infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.

2:51 p.m. China’s latest COVID-19 outbreaks within the northeast have come from vacationers coming into the nation or contaminated frozen meals imports, the Nationwide Well being Fee (NHC) says. NHC Minister Ma Xiaowei made the feedback at a authorities assembly, the place he additionally stated the virus was spreading to rural areas and that the dealing with of the latest state of affairs had uncovered how prevention and management measures had been relaxed.

2:14 p.m. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive, which is anticipated to inoculate round 300 million of the nation’s 1.Three billion individuals over the subsequent few months.

10:41 a.m. U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) imposes a shelter-in-place order on two of its largest bases — U.S. Military Garrison Yongsan and Camp Humphreys — till Tuesday after a cluster of coronavirus infections. It’s not instantly clear what number of instances have been reported on the two bases, however the USFK says six individuals examined optimistic on Friday. The command has been comparatively profitable in holding infections all the way down to a handful.

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To compensate for earlier developments, see the final version of newest updates.