Vaccines for all Americans by April

US President Donald Trump said he expects enough Covid-19 vaccines "for every American" will be produced by next April, as a host of European countries imposed new local restrictions to reduce their spiralling case loads. 

Israel went a step further, becoming the first major country to impose another national lockdown that will last for three weeks.

As leader of the world's hardest-hit country, Trump sees the swift approval of a vaccine as vital to immunizing his reelection campaign against criticism by Joe Biden, who is leading in polls in the run-up to the November 3 vote.

"Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month, and we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April," he told reporters.

The president has hinted the first vaccine could be green-lighted by October, a timeline viewed as overly optimistic by his own health officials who say the end of the year or start of 2021 is more likely.

The pandemic has killed at least 953,025 people in the world since emerging in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1100 GMT yesterday based on official sources.

More than 30.5 million people have been infected.

The United States has the most deaths with 198,597, followed by Brazil with 135,793, India with 85,619, Mexico 72,803 and Britain 41,732.

European countries from Denmark to Greece announced new restrictions on Friday to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain was reported to be considering a new national lockdown.

Madrid authorities imposed a partial lockdown on nearly a million people, the British government unveiled new measures limiting social contact in several regions, and Ireland banned indoor dining at restaurants and pubs in Dublin.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was "no question" that his country was "now seeing a second wave coming in" as he toured the site of a new vaccine center.

Cases in the United Kingdom almost doubled to 6,000 per day in the latest reporting week, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London.

Authorities in the southern French city of Nice banned gatherings of more than 10 people in public spaces and restricted bar opening hours, following fresh curbs introduced earlier this week in Marseille and Bordeaux.

In Denmark, where the 454 new infections on Friday was close to a record of 473 in April, PM Mette Frederiksen said the limit on public gatherings would be lowered to 50 people from 100 and ordered bars and restaurants to close early.

Iceland ordered entertainment venues and pubs in the capital area to close for four days between September 18-21, while in Ireland indoor restaurant dining and indoor events were banned in Dublin after a surge in cases in recent days.