A nurse from Lancet Nectare hospital performs a COVID-19 coronavirus test in Richmond, Johannesburg, on December 18, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections, the health minister said on Friday, days after Britain said it had also found a new variant of the virus boosting cases.

“We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 Virus - currently termed 501.V2 Variant - has been identified by our genomics scientists here in South Africa,” Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize tweeted.

“The evidence that has been collated, therefore, strongly suggests that the current second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant,” Mkhize added.

South Africa on Friday reported 8,725 new coronavirus cases, taking the national tally to 901,538, the country's health department reported.

Meanwhile, 274 more COVID-19 deaths were recorded, taking the country's death toll from the disease to 24,285. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it was in touch with the South African researchers who identified the new variant.

The global body added there was no indication there were changes in the way the new strain of the virus was behaving.

“We are working with them with our SARS-COV-2 Virus evolution working group. They are growing the virus in the country and they’re working with researchers to determine any changes in the behaviour of the virus itself in terms of transmission,” WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove told a news conference in Geneva.

South African health authorities said the new variant seemed to spread faster than the previous iteration, but that it was too early to tell its severity and whether current vaccines would work against it.

US

Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday became the second to receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration, providing some welcome news to a nation with a staggering COVID-19 death toll of over 307,000 lives lost.

The FDA announced the authorization on Friday after the agency’s panel of outside experts on Thursday endorsed its use.

A health-care worker in Alaska suffered from a “probable” adverse reaction to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, according to a statement from Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks. Two other health-care workers in Alaska experienced reactions earlier this week.

Such reactions have been rare -- more than 1.1 million people have received the vaccine so far -- though the UK has warned anyone who has a history of anaphylactic reactions to food, medicine or a vaccine not to get the Pfizer shot.

US President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will get their first dose of coronavirus vaccine on Monday. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will get their first shots the following week.

ALSO READ: COVID-19: Brazil's Supreme Court rules against anti-vaxxers

Italy and Austria

Italy and Austria are leading Europe’s latest round of holiday-season lockdowns as the two neighbors seek to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections.

The Italian cabinet voted late Friday to impose a “stop-and-go” lockdown from Dec 24 to Jan 6, with strict restrictions on and around Christmas, New Year’s and the Epiphany holiday on Jan 6, and slightly looser curbs for Dec 28-30 and Jan 4, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said at a press conference. Bars, restaurants and nonessential stores will close and people’s movement will be limited during the periods of stricter measures.

“We need to intervene — and it was not an easy decision, it was a difficult one,” said Conte, whose country has reported the most virus-related deaths in Europe since the pandemic began. The government will ensure support for affected businesses, and 645 million euros ($790 million) has been set aside for restaurants, he said.

Austria, which alternated between looser and tougher restrictions over the past six weeks, ordered non-essential stores to close again, while restaurants and hotels will remain shut and schools won’t reopen as usual after the Christmas holidays. The measures take effect on Dec. 26 and will lift on Jan 18.

France

France reported 15,674 new Covid cases on Friday, with the rolling seven-day average of cases rising for a third day to 13,088, the highest in three weeks.

Deaths rose by 610 to 60,229, making France the third European country after Italy and the U.K. to report more than 60,000 fatalities linked to the virus. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid, said in a video message he’s doing fine, even as he described tiredness and said his level of activity is “a little slowed down.”

WHO

The World Health Organization said it would have delivered enough vaccine doses to protect health and social care workers in all participating countries by mid-2021. A fifth of those countries’ populations would be vaccinated by the end of 2021, with further doses in the following year.

“This is a time for taking comfort that the end of the pandemic is in sight,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, calling the vaccine rollout “a milestone in global health.” “With today’s news the light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little bit brighter, but we are not there yet.”

READ MORE: Merkel ties pandemic exit to immunization rates of over 60%

Ireland

Ireland “cannot cope” with the growth of coronavirus going into the holiday, the nation’s chief medical officer warned, as virus numbers continue to increase. Ireland reported 582 new cases on Friday, the most since November 5, while hospitalizations jumped. “The situation is getting worse more rapidly than we expected,” CMO Tony Holohan said. His comments come a day after the government warned it would bring in new virus restrictions before the end of the year.

Mexico City

Mexico City will shut down all non-essential activity starting on Saturday and until January 10 as COVID-19 cases soar in the nation’s capital.

The shutdown extends to the State of Mexico, the nation’s most populous state. The decision comes after the number of people with the virus occupying hospital beds reached a record this month in Mexico City.

Switzerland

Switzerland will close restaurants and leisure venues, including gyms, museums and cinemas, from Dec 22. The measures will last until Jan 22, the government said in a statement Friday. It’s considering further steps should the situation worsen.

The nation of about 8.5 million on Friday reported 4,478 new infections, with the seven-day average up 3 percent compared to last week.

Ukraine 

Ukraine on Friday recorded 12,630 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 944,381, according to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, 260 fatalities were reported, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 16,256, the council reported.

Official data showed that as many as 561,222 patients have recovered from the disease, including 12,866 in the previous day.  

The Netherlands

The Netherlands reported on Friday 12,028 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 664,456, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

The country also reported 85 new deaths from the virus, raising the total death toll to 10,405.

The Dutch government has decided to implement a strict lockdown in the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Monday evening during a televised speech from his office. 

Peru 

Peru confirmed 2,242 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, taking its total caseload to 993,760 as of 10 p.m. Thursday local time (0300 GMT Friday), according to the country's health ministry.

The ministry also reported 68 more deaths from the virus, raising the total death toll to 36,969.

As many as 928,219 people have recovered from the disease across the South American nation.  

Argentina 

Argentina on Friday reported 7,002 new COVID-19 cases, bringing its national tally to 1,531,374, said the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also said that 138 more patients died from the disease, bringing the nationwide death toll to 41,672.

So far 1,356,755 patients have recovered nationwide while 132,924 cases remain active, it added.

Argentina has decided to extend what it calls Social, Preventive and Obligatory Distancing regulations to control the spread of the virus until Jan. 31, 2021, President Alberto Fernandez announced on Friday.

Poland 

Poland confirmed on Friday 11,013 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's total caseload to 1,182,864, according to the country's health ministry.

The ministry also reported 426 new deaths from the virus, raising the national death toll to 24,771.

The Polish government announced on Thursday a nationwide lockdown from Dec. 28 to Jan. 17 in an effort to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.  

Germany

Germany's Minister of Health Jens Spahn Friday announced a detailed plan for the country's COVID-19 vaccination campaign, saying its first goal is to protect the most vulnerable.

All citizens over 80 years of age as well as residents and staff of nursing homes would be among the first to get vaccinated, Spahn said at a press conference.

As the vaccination of the first risk group would take at least one to two months before the vaccination program in Germany could be expanded, Spahn asked the German public to be patient.

Spain

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said Friday that vaccinations against COVID-19 will begin in Spain on Dec. 27.

The first vaccinations will be using the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine, with the first doses arriving in Spain on Dec. 26.

"If Europe has agreed that vaccination begins in a coordinated manner, in Spain we are going to start the first possible day," Illa said at a press conference.

The health minister said that he is waiting for European authorities to confirm the number of doses that Spain will receive, but promised that it will be "an equitable distribution."

Illa also expressed his hope that around "20 million citizens" will have been inoculated by May or June.

"This means the start of the end of the pandemic, it is not the end of the pandemic, we will have to keep our guard up, but it is the start of the end," said the minister. 

Colombia 

Colombia reported 13,277 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,482,072, health authorities said on Friday.

Meanwhile, 232 more deaths were reported, raising the national death toll to 40,019, they said, adding that 1,354,021 people have so far recovered from the disease.

Colombian President Ivan Duque has extended the health emergency for COVID-19 until Feb. 28, 2021, and adopted measures to help reactivate the economy.

Libya

Libya's National Center for Disease Control on Friday reported 489 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 93,772.

The center said in a statement it received a total of 3,770 samples, of which 489 tested positive in the past day.

Meanwhile, 655 patients recovered while nine others died, taking the total recoveries to 63,886 and fatalities to 1,346, it said.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Friday said it renovated two hospitals in Tripoli, capital of Libya, and supplied dozens of medical centers in the city with medical equipment to support the Ministry of Health (MoH)'s response against COVID-19.

Brazil

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll rose to 185,650 on Friday after 823 more patients died from the disease in the previous 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said.

In the same period, tests detected 52,544 cases of infection, raising the total caseload to 7,162,978 since the start of the outbreak in Brazil on Feb. 26.

The federal government published a resolution in the Government Gazette announcing that, as of Dec. 30, both Brazilians and foreigners arriving at airports must be able to present negative results of a COVID-19 test. Land and coastal borders will remain closed. 

Chile 

Chile reported 2,404 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest number since July, bringing the total infections to 581,135, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

The country also registered 44 more deaths from the disease, bringing the total death toll to 16,051, while 552,289 people have recovered from the disease so far, the ministry said in a daily report.

According to the ministry, 668 people are currently hospitalized in intensive care units, including 482 on ventilators and 62 in critical condition.

The Chilean government announced Thursday it will have more than 30 million vaccines against the disease in 2021. The initial vaccination phase will begin in the first quarter of the year with 20,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech formula.

Canada

Canadian COVID-19 cases are expected to surpass the 500,000 level on  Saturday as the country saw an increase of 4,671 new cases on Friday, bringing the national total to 493,309, according to CTV.

COVID-19 deaths rose to 14,004 as of Friday afternoon.

Canada reported 7,008 new COVID-19 cases for the first time on Thursday although the country had strengthened measures against the novel coronavirus spread.

The national average case count is now over 6,650 cases reported daily over the last seven days, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Friday.

Italy

Italians will have to spend much of the Christmas and New Year holiday in a nationwide "red zone" in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced in a nationally televised press conference on Friday evening.

Italy reported 17,992 new coronavirus infections, 22,272 recoveries, and 674 deaths on Friday. These were down from 18,236 new cases, 27,913 recoveries, and 683 deaths on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Health.

Portugal 

Portugal on Friday reported 4,336 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 366,952, said the country's Directorate-General for Health.

Meanwhile, 75 more COVID-19 deaths were recorded, taking the country's death toll to 5,977, while the national total recoveries rose to 290,690. 

Chile

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was slapped with a US$3,500 fine on Friday after posing for a selfie on the beach with a bystander without wearing a mask as required during the coronavirus pandemic, health authorities said.

Chile has strict rules on mask wearing in all public places and violations are punishable with sanctions that include fines and even jail terms.

Pinera apologized then turned himself in shortly after the selfie surfaced on social media in early December.

The president explained he had been walking alone along the beach near his home in the posh Chilean seaside town of Cachagua when a woman recognized him and asked for a photo together.

The selfie shows the president and the woman standing very near to one another on a sunny day, neither wearing masks.

The gaffe-prone Pinera was previously photographed at a pizza party on the night protests over inequality broke out in Santiago last year. He was later seen posing for pictures at the square that had been the hub of the demonstrations after the pandemic forced protesters to stay at home.

The virus peaked in Chile in May and June, during the southern hemisphere winter, then subsided through November. Cases are on the rise again, however, prompting new restrictions and quarantines.

Chile has reported 581,135 cases of the virus since the outbreak began in March, and 16,051 deaths from the disease.

Russia 

Russia confirmed 28,209 coronavirus cases over the past day, taking the total number of infections to 2,819,429, the country's official COVID-19 monitoring and response center said Saturday.

Moscow registered 6,459 new coronavirus cases, bringing the capital's total to 728,637.

Another 26,109 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection over the previous day, taking the cumulative number of those recovered to 2,254,742.

The country's COVID-19 death toll increased by 585 to 50,347.

So far, over 85.4 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country. 

Georgia 

Georgia reported 2,904 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing its total to 206,907, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.

Among the new cases, 1,252 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the center said.

As of Saturday, a total of 175,842 patients have recovered, while 2,055 others have died, it added.

Honduras 

Honduras added 738 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 116,212, the health ministry tweeted Saturday on its official account.

The country also reported two more deaths from the disease, taking the national death toll to 3,023, the ministry said.