Drivers stand with their HGV freight lorries blocking the entrance trying to enter the port of Dover in Kent, south east England, on Dec 23, 2020. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

GENEVA / SANTIAGO / PARIS / LONDON / SAO PAULO / VATICAN CITY / FRANKFURT / ZURICH / MEXICO CITY / WASHINGTON / MOSCOW / RABAT / TUNIS / ADDIS ABABA / LILONGWE / SARAJEVO / BERLIN / HARARE / NIAMEY / ABUJA / BOGOTA / LJUBLJANA / ROME / WINDHOEK / TBILISI / DOVER - Truck drivers trapped along hundreds of miles of roads near the southern English port of Dover are facing a riddle: to travel to France they must have a COVID-19 test but they say there are no tests to be had.

After turning parts of southern England into a vast truck parking lot by closing the border to incoming freight, France opened its border on Wednesday to truckers who have a negative COVID test that is less than 72 hours old.

On the ground at the port of Dover - for centuries one of the main arteries for trade with the rest of Europe - there was little sign of any tests - or much other support for stranded drivers.

Britain said it would hand out tests to some of the 8,000-10,000 truckers stranded in the area and that it would take time to roll out. A testing unit was supposed to be on its way to the port, according to local officials.

Truck drivers scuffled with police and sounded their horns in protest around Dover. Many have been eating through their last provisions on the side of the road while families gather for Christmas thousands of miles away.

In interviews with Reuters, truckers repeatedly expressed anger at their fate, a lack of support and absence of information.

Many suspect European leaders are playing politics over Brexit by closing the border to send a message to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about just how disruptive failure to secure a trade deal by Dec 31 could be.

A COVID-19 patient is wheeled on a stretcher after being moved from an air rescue emergency helicopter at the 'University Medical Center' in Rostock, Germany, Dec 22, 2020. (BERND W'UESTNECK / DPA VIA AP)

Germany 

Germany reported a record daily coronavirus death toll of 962 on Wednesday, a week after the start of a hard lockdown that has forced most stores as well as hair salons and other services to close.

The total death toll now stands at 27,968, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

The previous daily death toll record was 952, reported on Dec 16, the day the lockdown came into effect.

Across Germany, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 24,740 to 1,554,920, the RKI’s tally showed on Wednesday.

According to a separate tally by Johns Hopkins University, the country posted a record 986 deaths, pushing the toll above 28,000. Cases jumped by 36,153, the second-biggest gain since the start of the pandemic, to 1.57 million, according to the tally.

The eastern German state of Saxony has been hit hard by the second wave, reporting the highest number of deaths per capita over the course of the pandemic, with around 57 in 100,000 residents having died.

The town of Zittau, on Germany’s borders with Poland and Czech Republic, said late on Tuesday its crematorium was no longer able to keep up with the number of deaths and has had to find additional space to store the dead.

Germany should be able to make a COVID-19 vaccine available to all its citizens toward the European summer, though it depends how fast vaccines come onto the market, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn.

Spahn said that more than 1.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot will be delivered to the federal states by the end of this month, and that vaccinations in care homes will begin Sunday as planned.

Germany extended its UK travel ban on Tuesday until Jan 6 amid concerns over a new virus variant despite a European Commission recommendation earlier for member states to lift the ban. According to an updated travel advisory, German citizens who wish to enter Germany will be allowed entry. 

France

The coronavirus pandemic is not under control in France and a new lockdown must remain an option, Karine Lacombe, the head of the infectious diseases unit at Paris’ Saint-Antoine hospital, said on Wednesday.

Medical experts have voiced concerns that the Christmas holidays could result in a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in France and Europe. Data published on Tuesday showed that France had reported a further 802 related deaths in the last 24 hours, and another 11,795 confirmed cases.

France could push back its target for a Jan 20 reopening of restaurants, depending on how the pandemic develops, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Minister Alain Griset said in an interview with RTL radio. “It is true that as the days go by, we can see that the numbers are not going down, this target could be delayed,” Griset said.

France began to reopen critical trade and transportation links with the United Kingdom Wednesday morning, two days after a temporary suspension triggered chaos at Britain’s busiest port.

A deal was reached between the two sides late on Tuesday.

Travel from the UK will resume for European Union (EU) citizens and residents able to demonstrate negative COVID-19 tests that are less than 72 hours old, according to a statement from Prime Minister Jean Castex. Other nationals will be allowed to resume essential travel.

Britain said it would begin handing out tests at multiple locations on Wednesday, but cautioned that the process would take time.

A truck passes through the Port of Dover, the main ferry link between southern England and France. In Kent, England, in the early morning of Dec 23, 2020. (STEVE PARSONS / PA VIA AP)

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 78 million while the global death toll has exceeded 1.71 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus reaches end of earth as first outbreak hits Antarctica

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called a meeting of members for Wednesday to discuss strategies to counter a new, more infectious variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain.

A spokeswoman said the meeting was designed to help with information-sharing.

“Limiting travel to contain spread is prudent until we have better info,” Hans Kluge, the WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, tweeted.

“Supply chains for essential goods & essential travel should remain possible,” Kluge tweeted.

The WHO repeated that there was not yet enough information to determine whether the new variant could affect vaccine efficacy.

Chile

Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris on Tuesday expressed concern over holiday shopping crowds at a time when COVID-19 cases are on the rise.

"We are very concerned to see the images in Santiago and regions of crowds of people who are not maintaining physical distance or the minimum safeguards to avoid infection," Paris said at a press conference.

Paris urged people to go out "only if it is extremely necessary."

The more than 7 million inhabitants of the capital Santiago and its surroundings are banned from traveling outside of the Metropolitan region.

Chile reported 1,699 new infections and 20 deaths on Tuesday, bringing its tally to 589,189 and the death toll to 16,217. 

Vaccine makers

At least four drugmakers expect their COVID-19 vaccines will be effective against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus that is raging in Britain and are performing tests that should provide confirmation in a few weeks.

Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, which with partner Pfizer Inc, took less than a year to get a vaccine approved, said on Tuesday he expects its messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine to still work well.

READ MORE: BioNTech confident virus shot effective against new UK variant

Moderna Inc, Germany’s CureVac and British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc also believe their shots will work against the new threat that has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.

The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70 percent more infectious and more of a concern for children.

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE agreed to supply an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to the US, as the country seeks to widen its immunization program and revive its economy.

The agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the US to 200 million, the companies said Wednesday in a statement. The drugmaker expects to deliver all the doses to US vaccine and drug accelerator Operation Warp Speed by July 31.

Countries around the world are seeking supplies of vaccine they hope will allow the reopening of schools and businesses and the resumption of travel. The UK has also begun administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, and European drug authorities cleared it for use on Monday.

The US has been working to expand supplies of the front-runner vaccine, in light of the drugmakers’ commitments to other countries. Earlier this month, the US exercised an option to buy 100 million additional vaccine doses from Moderna Inc, doubling the number it has on order from that company to 200 million.

UK

The British government will review its COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday to decide if it needs to impose stricter measures on more parts of England after a highly infectious mutated variant swept across the country, a minister said.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the rules were unlikely to change before Christmas but he said the government’s committee would meet on Wednesday to decide what further action needed to be taken.

Another 36,804 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, marking the highest daily increase of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in the country, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 2,110,314, the data showed.

Another 691 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 68,307, the data showed.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologized for breaking her government’s coronavirus rules when she removed her face mask in a public place, the BBC reported.

The Scottish National Party leader temporarily took off the covering while attending a wake for a government official, the broadcaster said on its website following a report in the Sun newspaper. “This was a stupid mistake and I’m really sorry,” Sturgeon told the BBC. “I talk every day about the importance of masks, so I’m not going to offer any excuses.”

US

The new variant of COVID-19 found in the United Kingdom may already be in the United States undetected, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No cases of it have yet been identified, the CDC reported, but viruses have been sequenced from only about 51,000 of the 17 million US cases. Travel between the two countries and the prevalence of the new strain in the UK boost the chance it is already in the US, the CDC reported.

Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, said on Monday that it would take weeks to determine scientifically if the strain is more transmissible but that it didn’t appear to be any more dangerous. He also said he expects the existing vaccines will likely still offer protection against it.

Meanwhile, Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious-disease doctor, received Moderna’s vaccine along with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, and six frontline health care workers at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Monday.

The US has so far reported over 18.2 million confirmed cases and more than 322,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Pregnant women who are infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, during the third trimester are unlikely to pass the infection to their newborns, according to a new study, funded by the NIH, published Tuesday.

In another development, US President Donald Trump signaled he may not sign a US$900 billion coronavirus relief package just one day after Congress passed it with bipartisan support.

READ MORE: Trump signals he might not sign COVID-19 relief, demands changes

Russia

Russia on Wednesday reported 27,250 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 5,652 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 2,933,753.

Authorities said 549 people had died overnight, taking the official death toll to 52,461.

A total of 1,424 COVID-19 mutations have been detected in Russia, but none of them are linked to the highly infectious new strain recently reported in Britain, said Anna Popova, head of the country's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, on Tuesday.

"This is common routine work. None of these mutations are associated with changes in the properties of the virus, including its transmissibility and pathogenicity," Popova said during a meeting of the Russian government coordination council on curbing coronavirus infections.

Vatican

Pope Francis will read his Christmas message from inside the Vatican instead of from the outdoor central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica because of new coronavirus restrictions in Italy, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

In addition to the Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) message, five addresses that were to have been delivered from a window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square between Dec 26 and Jan 6 also will be moved indoors.

The restrictions mean people will not be able to go to St. Peter’s Square. Papal events will be live streamed and broadcast on television.

The pope’s Christmas Eve Mass will start at 7:30 pm, two hours earlier than usual, to allow the limited number of people who can attend to be home by a 10 pm Italian curfew.

Members of a windsurfing center wear Santa Claus costumes as they paddle on stand up boards during Christmas celebrations in the southern costal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Dec 23, 2020. (PETROS KARADJIAS / AP)

Cyprus

Cyprus on Tuesday announced a slight relaxation of coronavirus restrictions for just two days during the Christmas and New Year period, and at the same issued an advisory against travel to Britain.

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said people can stay out and hold family meetings of up to 10 people until 11 pm on Dec 24, and 1 am on Dec 31.

He also said that people can attend church services on Christmas Day and on Jan 6, Epiphany Day, with no more than 75 people gathered inside a church compound.

Ioannou said that the current epidemiological data were not satisfactory and did not justify a further relaxation of current restrictions.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry issued an advisory to ask people to avoid traveling to Britain unless it's absolutely necessary.

The health ministry said people arriving from Britain will be taken to designated hotels for a seven-day quarantine, with the cost covered by the state. People under the age of 18 have the option to either quarantine at home or at the designated hotels.

Denmark

Denmark’s health authorities said that about 10 percent the country’s positive test results are now of the N439K mutation of the virus, calling the rate “concerning.” 

The mutation, which was first discovered in Romania in May, is different from the one spreading in the UK and also from the one that infected the Danish mink farms earlier this year, authorities said.

Intensive care units in Denmark’s capital region are now approaching full capacity, prompting health officials to postpone planned operations and seek assistance from hospitals outside the Copenhagen area. 

Netherlands

Hospitals in the Netherlands have put all non-urgent health care on hold to be able to attend to a large influx of COVID-19 patients, according to national press agency ANP. 

More patients are being transferred to neighbor Germany.

Mexico

Mexico will receive an initial batch of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, putting the country in a neck-and-neck race with Chile to become the first Latin American nation to apply the life-saving treatment.

Pfizer will send more than 1.4 million vaccines to Mexico by the end of January, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s daily press briefing in Mexico City on Tuesday.

Brazil

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll reached 188,259 after 968 more patients died from the novel coronavirus disease, the country's ministry of health reported on Tuesday.

Tests detected 55,202 new daily cases of infection, raising the accumulated caseload to 7,318,821, with 6,354,972 recoveries.

The southeast state of Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, said it will double down on lockdown measures over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Non-essential businesses will again be closed from Dec 25 to 27 and Jan 1 to 3, as part of a return to the red emergency phase of the pandemic, Sao Paulo Secretary of Economic Development Patricia Ellen said at a press conference.

The state will start vaccinating its 46 million residents on Jan. 25 with shots of the Chinese developed CoronaVac.

Morocco

Morocco registered 2,646 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally in the North African country to 420,648, the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of recoveries hit 382,925 after 2,791 new ones were added.

The death toll rose by 30 to 7,030, while 1,039 people were in intensive care units.

Tunisia

Tunisian Minister of Health Faouzi Mehdi announced on Tuesday that a nationwide curfew has been extended to Jan 15, 2021 to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The curfew will be imposed from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am, Mehdi said at a news conference.

Meanwhile, a ban on movement between governorates and on gatherings, demonstrations, fairs and meetings has also been extended, in addition to the closure of cafes at 7 pm. A ban on new year's celebrations will also be imposed.

Tunisia reported 1,031 new cases on Monday, raising the total number of infections to 121,718, while the death toll rose by 41 to 4,199. 

A medical technician displays a rapid  COVID-19 test kit at a mobile testing site in Tunis, Tunisia, Dec 22, 2020. (HASSENE DRIDI / AP)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Milorad Dodik, chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has tested positive for COVID-19, said the University Clinical Center of Republika Srpska (RS) on Tuesday.

Dodik has been diagnosed with pneumonia on both his lungs and was tested positive for COVID-19, according to the University Clinical Center of RS.

He has difficulty breathing and stomach aches, but his condition is stable and he is receiving the appropriate therapy.

Dodik has been feeling fatigued since Saturday, and he was hospitalized on Monday, according to the official Facebook page of his political party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats.

To date, BiH has recorded 106,896 COVID-19 cases and 3,792 deaths, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. 

Africa tally

A total of  2,525,332 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 59,746 deaths from the disease had been recorded in the African continent as of Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

Ecuador

Ecuador reported 35 new cases of COVID-19 infection on Tuesday, bringing its caseload to 206,364.

The death toll remained at 9,400, while there were 4,549 other deaths suspected of being caused by the disease.

Slovenia

Voluntary mass testing for the coronavirus started in a number of Slovenian towns on Tuesday with long lines reported in big towns.

Up to two tests are conducted in a mobile unit a minute and the results are out in 15-30 minutes, Ziga Skok from the Ljubljana Medical Centre said in Celje, the third-largest city in Slovenia.

At Congress Square in Ljubljana, people waited about two hours to get tested around noon.

The mass testing will be held until Dec 24. After the holidays, rapid tests will be used among specific groups of residents, including those in education and child care.

Official figures released on Tuesday showed that 1,474 new infections were confirmed in the last 24 hours in 5,763 PCR tests, while another 30 infections were detected in 1,653 rapid tests.

In total, the country has recorded 107,770 confirmed cases. The death toll rose by 39 to 2,422.

People wait in line to have COVID-19 tests at Congress Square in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Dec 22, 2020. (ZELJKO STEVANIC / XINHUA)Belarus

Belarus plans to vaccinate 1.2 million people against COVID-19 by the end of spring, Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich told reporters on Tuesday.

Mass vaccination will begin in January 2021, the minister said, adding that the country will use foreign vaccines.

Belarus plans to increase the number of those vaccinated to 5.5 million, the minister said, adding the country also plans to develop its own vaccine. 

Switzerland

Switzerland on Wednesday gave its first coronavirus shot, made by Pfizer and BioNTech, to a 90-year-old woman who lives in a care home in Lucerne, the local government said in a statement.

The country on Tuesday recorded 4,275 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total caseload to 418,266, health authorities said.

The authorities also reported 129 additional deaths, raising the death toll to 6,333.

Switzerland has sent text messages to travelers from the UK and South Africa, asking them to adhere to the mandatory 10-day quarantine and not leave their residences to help prevent the spread of the mutated strain. 

Non-compliance will result in fines of as much as 10,000 francs (US$11,249).

Malawi

Malawi's government on Tuesday announced the immediate closure of borders for 14 days as the country is experiencing a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said that only essential services and deported Malawians, and those who went out for business will be exempted from the 14-day immediate closure of borders.

Public gatherings will only be allowed for a maximum number of 100 people with strict observance of COVID-19 measures, according to the health minister. 

Meanwhile, Chiponda also announced that Minister of Labour Ken Kandodo, who is a member of the Presidential Taskforce Committee on COVID-19, has tested positive and was receiving treatment.

Malawi on Tuesday confirmed 46 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 6,248, said the health ministry. The death toll remained at 187.

Italy

Italy reported 628 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 415 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections increased to 13,318 from 10,872.

In total, Italy has recorded 69,842 COVID-19 fatalities and some 1.977 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 24,948 on Tuesday, down by 197 from the day before. There were 201 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 161 on Monday.

The actual number of intensive care patients decreased by 44 to 2,687, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.

A medical staff member shows a patient some exercise moves at the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome, Italy, Dec 22, 2020. (CECILIA FABIANO / LAPRESSE VIA AP)

Colombia

Colombia registered 12,526 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 1,530,593, health authorities said Tuesday.

The country also reported 251 additional deaths, raising the death toll to 40,931, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said in an update, adding that 1,394,374 people have so far recovered.

Argentina

Argentina on Tuesday reported 8,141 new COVID-19 cases, taking its caseload to 1,555,279, said the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported another 257 deaths, bringing the death toll to 42,254.

Niger

Niger on Tuesday confirmed 79 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 2,803, said the Ministry of Public Health.

The death toll rose by two to 89.  

Nigeria

Nigeria confirmed 999 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 79,789, said the country's Center for Disease Control on Tuesday.

The death toll climbed by four to 1,231. 

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe on Tuesday reported 122 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nation's caseload to 12,544, said the health ministry.

Deaths rose by four to 326, it said.

Namibia

Namibia on Wednesday imposed a 9 pm-4 am curfew through Jan 13 as the country grapples with a second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula said confirmed cases over the past week have reached levels not seen before, describing the situation as rapidly changing and deteriorating.

He said public gatherings will now be limited to a maximum of 50 persons per event.

In addition, he said that the sale of alcohol and trading hours for on-site consumption will only be allowed between 9 am and 8 pm on weekdays and Saturdays; no sale of alcohol is allowed on Sundays and public holidays.

Shangula warned of stiff penalties for violations of the new measures. "The maximum penalty... is 100,000 Namibia dollars (US$6,800) or 10 years' imprisonment," he said.  

Bulgaria

Bulgaria will restore flights from the UK and Northern Ireland at noon local time, the government said. The Balkan country had initially shut its borders for arrivals from the UK until Jan 31 to limit the spread of the new virus strain.

Arrivals will be tested with quick antigen tests and placed under a 10-day quarantine, and from Jan 1 they will be required to present a negative PCR test made within 72 hours before arrival.

Poland

Poland registered 12,361 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the most in a week and up from 7,192 on Tuesday. 

The new cases took the total number of infections close to 1.23 million, according to the Health Ministry. 

The death toll rose by 472, for a total of 26,255.

Georgia

Georgia reported 2,345 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 214,871.

Among the new cases, 1,017 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the country's center for disease control said.