EU president warns 'recurring cycles' viral spread despite vaccine

Amid "encouraging" news about a probable vaccine, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said that there would be "unsteady" eurozone recovery in times ahead.

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"We could still face recurring cycles of accelerating viral spread and tightening restrictions until widespread immunity is achieved," Lagarde said after US pharma giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech announced said their coronavirus vaccine had shown 90 per cent effectiveness in its trials. 

However, Pfizer and BioNTech data still need to be reviewed.

Also Read: China's Sinopharm claims results of its vaccine are 'better than expected'

After Pfizer's declaration, Russia said its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was 92 per cent effective after it was tested on at least 16,000 individuals. Pfizer and BioNTech declared that they could supply up to 50 million vaccine doses globally this year alone and up to 1.3 billion next year subject to getting regulatory approval.

"The Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92 per cent after the second dose," it said.

The virus has already claimed over 311,000 lives and infected at least 51 million people worldwide.

On Tuesday, stocks climbed over the promising new coronavirus vaccine as oil prices surged on energy demand hopes.

Despite the new optimism, the United States on Tuesday registered a record 200,000 new coronavirus cases in one day with 1,535 fatalities in 24 hours. The US has been hit hardest due to the virus with over 10 million cases.

There were 6,867 deaths recorded worldwide on Tuesday with the highest daily tolls in Spain, France and the United States.