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Chinese, U.S. senior officials hold video talks over economic ties Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a video conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday morning. An official statement says the two sides have conducted extensive exchanges on the macroeconomic situation and believe that China-U.S. economic relations are very important. They have expressed willingness to maintain communication. Liu He is chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue. Guangdong reports 10 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases Guangdong Province in China registered 10 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Three of the cases were previously asymptomatic ones. Seven of the confirmed cases were reported in the provincial capital city Guangzhou and the other three in the city of Foshan. Seven new locally asymptomatic cases were reported. As of Tuesday, Guangdong has reported 2,481 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including over 1,000 imported ones. WHO validates China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use The World Health Organization has issued an emergency use listing for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese firm Sinovac. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it is now crucial to get these life-saving vaccines to the people who need them. "I'm happy to announce that the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine has been given WHO emergency use listing after being found to be safe, effective and quality assured following two doses of the inactivated vaccine. Furthermore, the easy storage requirements of CoronaVac make it very suitable for low resource settings." WHO recommends the vaccine for use in people 18 years and older, with a two-dose schedule and a spacing of around four weeks. The efficacy results show that the Sinovac vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of those vaccinated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100 percent of the studied population. However, as few people over 60 years old were enrolled in clinical trials, the WHO says the Sinovac vaccine's efficacy can not be estimated in this age group. Last month, the UN health agency gave the green light to the first Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm. China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to COVAX in production Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin says the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine supplied by Sinopharm to COVAX has officially rolled off the production line. "China has always supported COVAX and has decided to provide 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the COVAX cause. Enterprises are working full-steam ahead to ensure vaccine supply. The official off-the-line of the first batch of COVAX vaccines is exactly another important manifestation of China's honoring its commitment of making its vaccines global public goods with concrete actions." The spokesperson says China will continue to support enterprises to strengthen communication and coordination with the sponsors of COVAX, and continue to make China's contribution to the global fight against the pandemic. COVAX is a global coalition that works to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world. Pakistan rolls out locally produced Chinese CanSino vaccine Pakistani authorities have launched a locally produced Chinese vaccine called "PakVac." The Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health shared results of a locally conducted survey at the ceremony, saying that Chinese vaccines including the CanSino vaccine are the preferred ones in the country due to their superior quality. Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong says the vaccine cooperation will effectively contribute to Pakistan's efforts in fighting COVID-19 by reducing its dependence on vaccine imports. Pakistani health authorities have recently filled and packed over 120 thousand doses of the single-dose CanSino vaccine using the bulk vaccine purchased from China. U.S. suspends oil leases in Arctic wildlife refuge amid environmental concerns The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Tuesday that it suspended all activities related to the controversial oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge amid environmental concerns. The department will initiate a comprehensive environmental analysis to review the potential impacts of the leasing program. It will also address legal deficiencies in the current leasing program's environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management established and began administering an oil and gas program in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge, opening up part of the protected area in Alaska to drilling for the first time. But in a Day One executive order, U.S. President Joe Biden directed the Interior Department to review oil and gas activity in the Arctic Refuge.