Global Covid-19 cases top 90m

Worldwide coronavirus cases surpassed 90 million yesterday, as nations around the globe raced to dose millions of people and extend or reinstate lockdowns to fight new coronavirus variants.

The new variants discovered initially in the United Kingdom and South Africa are rapidly spreading globally.

The coronavirus has picked up pace in the past few months with about one-third of total cases registered in the last 48 days, according to a Reuters tally.

Europe, which became the first region to report 25 million cases last week, remains the worst-affected area in the world, followed by North and Latin Americas with 22.4 million and 16.3 million cases respectively.

Europe has reported around 31% of about 1.93 million coronavirus-related deaths globally.

The United Kingdom, the worst-affected European country, crossed 3 million cases last Friday.

Seven mass vaccination sites opened across England yesterday. The sites include football stadiums and a horse racing course, and are located in cities including Bristol, London, Newcastle and Manchester.

They are to vaccinate thousands per week and several more sites are expected to follow, according to the National Health Service (NHS) in England.

"I feel very relieved," said Moira Edwards, 88, after receiving her first vaccination at Epsom Downs Racecourse, south of London, which is more famous for the Derby.

The United States, world's worst affected country, reported its highest death toll on Wednesday, with over 4,000 fatalities in a single day.

The nation has recorded more than 22 million cases since the pandemic started, reporting on average 245,000 new infections a day over the last seven days.

More vaccination sites are opening in a push to speed up the inoculation process in New York City. The Brooklyn site is one of two mass vaccination locations that opened on Sunday. The second one is located at Bathgate Contract Postal Station in the borough of the Bronx.

BEIJING OUTBREAK SPREADS

To control the spread of new coronavirus variant, countries across the globe have started to extend movement and business restrictions.

More than half a million people were placed under lockdown in Beijing yesterday as the government imposed strict measures to stamp out a handful of Covid-19 cases.

China has largely brought the virus under control, but is tackling a number of local infections with lockdowns and mass testing.

Authorities are keen to stem any outbreak in the capital -- home to over 20 million people -- particularly ahead of a week-long national holiday next month, reports AFP.

All rural villages in Shunyi district on the outskirts of Beijing are locked down until a fresh round of mass testing has been completed, district official Zhi Xianwei said at a press briefing.

The move means around 518,000 residents will not be permitted to leave their villages until they have undergone testing.

Malaysia will impose strict new curbs in over half the country to fight a coronavirus surge, the prime minister said yesterday, warning the country's healthcare system was at "breaking point".

It joins other Asian nations, from Japan to Australia, which kept their outbreaks under control in the early stages but have been forced to introduce new measures in recent days.

Malaysia had relaxed restrictions as infections fell to almost zero last year but cases have crept up again, hitting record highs in recent days.

GREECE REOPENS SCHOOLS

Greece reopened thousands of primary schools and nurseries yesterday for the first time in two months, and prepared to launch a campaign to vaccinate the over-85s against coronavirus.

More than 850,000 children under 12 returned to education, officials said, following a mass closure on November 16.

Greece has been under a nationwide lockdown since November 7 following an infection spike in the autumn.

Meanwhile, India has signed a purchase order with vaccine producer Serum Institute to procure AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, a source said yesterday, the first step in one of the world's largest vaccination programmes against the coronavirus.

Local television channel CNBC-TV 18 said the order was for 11 million doses and the government would buy the shots at 200 rupees ($2.72) per dose.

German company BioNTech, which developed the first coronavirus vaccine approved in the West, said yesterday it expects to produce 2 billion doses in 2021, up from the previous forecast of 1.3 billion doses.

"We now believe that we can potentially deliver approximately 2 billion doses in total by the end of 2021, which incorporates the updated 6-dose label," said the company, referring to the additional dose that could be extracted from each vial of the vaccine.