BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) — The following are the updates on the globalfight against the COVID-19 pandemic. HAVANA — Cuba on Thursday started phase 3 clinical trials of its Soberana 02 COVID-19 vaccine, Vicente Verez, director general of Cuba’s Finlay Institute of Vaccines, told a press conference. “We are entering a crucial phase to demonstrate the efficacy of the vaccine,” he said. “Results from preclinical studies are public and being submitted to important scientific magazines.” PHNOM PENH — Cambodia on Friday confirmed 23 more local COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infected people linked to the third community transmission to 425, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement. The new cases were found in capital Phnom Penh, Preah Sihanouk province, Koh Kong province and Kandal province, the statement said, adding that they were all related to the third community outbreak on Feb. 20. WELLINGTON — New Zealand reported no new COVID-19 cases both in the community and in managed isolation on Friday.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 68, and the total number of confirmed cases is 2,033, according to the Ministry of Health. SANTIAGO — Chile’s Metropolitan Region registered more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day, with a dozen cities across the country to enter lockdown due to a spike in infections, Health Minister Enrique Paris said Thursday. BEIJING — The Chinese mainland reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the National Health Commission said Friday. Nine new imported COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, said the commission in its daily report. In the Metropolitan Region, Chile’s administrative and commercial hub, 1,149 new cases were reported in the last day, while 4,567 new cases were detected nationwide, according to the Health Ministry. RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil on Thursday registered more than 1,600 COVID-19 deaths for the third day in a row, following a record daily count of 1,910 deaths on Wednesday. In the previous 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said, 75,102 new cases were reported, the second highest since the start of the pandemic, after the 87,743 new cases detected on Jan. 7. ADDIS ABABA — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 3,927,562 as of Thursday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member AfricaUnion (AU), said the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 104,711, while some 3,503,397 patients across