Latvia

Several European countries, inclduing France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania will resume administering AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine in the following days after European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced the vaccine was "safe and effective".

Emer Cooke, head of the EMA, said that while "a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious clotting disorders" were uncovered, the agency did not find that the vaccine caused an increase in the risk of blood clots.

A total of 13 European countries have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as of Tuesday due to blood clot concerns. Germany, France, Italy, Span, Portugal, Luxembourg and Slovenia suspended the vaccine on Monday, Sweden and Latvia followed on Tuesday.

Sydney's Lowy Institute assessed the Covid-19 response of 98 countries on six different criteria – including cases, deaths and testing – and ranked New Zealand's response to the virus the best. The other countries that made the top 10 are Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka. The United States, Mexico, Colombia and Iran and Brazil were in the bottom five, with Brazil being ranked at the bottom.

Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council announced it has banned the state-controlled Russian television channel RT. The ban will be valid for as long as Dmitry Kiselyov, network executive, remains on the list of sanctioned persons of the European Union’s.

The Council banned seven distinct channels belonging to the multilingual network operated by RT from being broadcast in the country, accusing RT of attempting to present Latvia as a failed state.

About 30 per cent of the country's population speaks Russian as a first language, with most of them being ethnic Russians.