Global virus deaths hit record high as EU approves second vaccine

The EU cleared a second coronavirus vaccine for use on Jan. 6 bringing relief to European countries struggling with spiraling infections, as the world clocked up a record number of deaths in a single day.

The Moderna vaccine is now set to join Pfizer-BioNTech's jab for use in the 27-nation European Union, where governments have been criticized for slow rollouts of the doses already available.

"We'll have more than enough safe and effective vaccines for protecting all Europeans," promised European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

The breakthrough came as a record 15,769 COVID-19 deaths around the world were registered in 24 hours.

The United States, the world's worst-hit country, logged a record 3,936 deaths and Britain recorded its own record of more than 1,000 new deaths, leapfrogging Italy to become the fifth-worst affected nation in the world.

Meanwhile, a high-profile mission to probe the origins of the pandemic was in disarray after Beijing denied entry to a World Health Organization (WHO) team at the last minute.

The 10-strong team had been due to arrive this week on a hugely sensitive mission to seek answers on how the virus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, after jumping from animals to humans.

WHO officials suggested there were problems with the visas but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying admitted it was "not just a visa issue".

"The issue of origin-tracing is incredibly complicated," she told reporters, adding that talks were continuing over "the specific date and specific arrangement" of the visit.

The global crisis shows no signs of slowing, with more than 1.8 million people known to have died worldwide from 86 million confirmed cases.

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