The UK has started vaccination against COVID-19 for elderly and at-risk residents, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. In addition, the prime minister advised residents over 70 who have not yet received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to contact their general practitioner and book vaccinations.
To date, more than 15 million Britons from four priority groups have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Johnson called the figure an important milestone and said it was an outstanding achievement.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, however, believes it is too early to draw conclusions about the impact of vaccination on the death rate due to the coronavirus COVID-19 in the country.
Meanwhile, the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech arrived in Australia and New Zealand on Monday.
The number of new infections with the coronavirus COVID-19 around the world has been declining for the fifth week in a row, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO). According to him, the weekly number of new infections has decreased by almost half compared to January 4, 2021. This shows that simple public health measures work, even with the presence of the virus species. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 109 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the world, more than 2.4 million have died.
According to the Statistical Office of the European Union, the volume of industrial production in the eurozone in December 2020 decreased by 1.6% compared to the previous month and by 0.8% compared to December 2019. This turned out to be worse than the consensus forecast of experts, which assumed a decrease in the first indicator by 1% and the second by 0.3%.
The composite index of the largest enterprises in the region Stoxx Europe 600 at the end of trading rose by 1.32% and amounted to 419.47 points.
The British FTSE 100 index rose 2.52%, the German DAX - 0.42%, the French CAC 40 - 1.45%. Italy's FTSE MIB and Spain's IBEX 35 added 0.83% and 1.84%, respectively.
Vivendi SA soared 19.6% during trading in Paris on Monday, ranking among the top gainers among the Stoxx Europe 600 components. The French media conglomerate intends to list its Universal Music Group (UMG) division in Amsterdam by the end of this year. The company announced plans to IPO UMG about a year ago. It has now set a floor price for the value of its subsidiary at € 30 billion ($ 36.4 billion).
The shares of the French transportation group Bollore SE, which owns more than a quarter of Vivendi's shares, jumped 14.6%.
Equinor ASA shares rose 2.7%. The Norwegian oil and gas company has warned of a possible strike at the Mongstad oil refinery, which could put production at several fields on the Norwegian continental shelf, including Johan Sverdrup and Troll, on hold until further notice.
Oncimmune Holdings PLC rose 8.7%. The British biotech company cut its losses in the first half of the current fiscal year amid a six-fold increase in revenues over that period.
Sweden's Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) gained 3.2%. The owner of Europe's second largest clothing chain is planning to add to the list of companies that have issued bonds with coupons tied to environmental goals as part of its debut bond placement. H&M approached several banks to arrange a placement of bonds with a maturity of eight and a half years in the amount of EUR 500 million.
The leaders of the fall were shares of the Belgian pharmaceutical company Galapagos NV, the price of which fell by 5.9%.
