Can a patent waiver speed up the global COVID vaccination drive? Eight Asia-Pacific cities, led by Auckland, New Zealand, have made it to the top 10 of the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual ranking of the world’s most liveable cities, helped in no small part by more effective pandemic responses in the region. However, European cities saw a marked fall down the ranks, primarily because of prolonged lockdowns and significant pressure on healthcare infrastructure. "Cities across the world are now much less liveable than they were before the pandemic began, and we’ve seen that regions such as Europe have been hit particularly hard," the EIU said in a statement.