Virus team visits China lab as poorer nations get vaccine boost

International experts on Feb. 3 inspected a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan that some U.S. officials had suggested was the source of the coronavirus, as plans were firmed up to distribute vaccines to poorer nations.

The World Health Organization-backed Covax scheme said it would roll out tens of millions of doses to lower-income countries in the next few months, with India the biggest beneficiary, getting 97.2 million of the initial doses.

And there was more positive news on vaccines, seen as a vital tool to overcoming a pandemic that has killed more than 2.2 million since it emerged in China in late 2019.

On Feb. 3, drug firm GlaxoSmithKline said it was teaming up with German biotech firm CureVac to develop a new vaccine and Russia said it was looking to ramp up production of its Sputnik V jab.

The Lancet medical journal reviewed Russian data from its tests and found Sputnik V to be 91.6 percent effective.

Britain, meanwhile, said farewell to centenarian Captain Tom Moore, the World War II veteran who won hearts by raising millions for health charities during last year's first UK lockdown, before dying of the virus this week.

"He gave us a real lift, encouraged people to chat to each other and gave us something to talk about," his neighbor Lucy Handley told AFP.

China has been widely criticized for seeking to cover up the emergence of the virus and for blocking WHO efforts to investigate its origins.

A WHO team finally started work on its investigation in recent days after months of delays, with the experts visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology on Feb. 3.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump and officials in his administration last year promoted a theory - providing no evidence - that the virus had...