A man wearing a face mask takes a photograph on Westminster Bridge as the sun sets in London, Britain, on Jan 6, 2021. (KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / AP)

WASHINGTON / MADRID / LONDON / RIO DE JANEIRO / LISBON / ROME / HAVANA / BUDAPEST / BOGOTA / PARIS / ADDIS ABABA / RABAT / JOHANNESBURG / NEW YORK / RIGA / QUITO / SANTIAGO / SOFIA / MOSCOW / BERLIN - The UK cleared Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine, adding a third shot for emergency use against the pandemic as infections surge.

Britain’s medicines regulator said Friday that it has authorized the US company’s vaccine, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg. As the country ramps up immunizations against the fast-spreading coronavirus, the Covid death toll now stands at more than 78,000 across Britain.

The UK also ordered an additional 10 million Moderna doses, bringing the total to 17 million, with delivery beginning in the spring. The regulator approved the shot on a two-dose regimen, given four weeks apart, after authorizing a longer gap for other vaccines.

All passengers arriving in the United Kingdom will be required to prove they do not have coronavirus, showing a negative test result taken within 72 hours of the start of their journey.

Under new rules announced by the British government, anyone failing to produce the evidence of a negative test will be hit with an immediate fine of 500 pounds (US$678). Travelers arriving from countries that are not on the government’s open travel corridor list will be required to isolate at home for 10 days, regardless of their test results.

The plan is aimed at stopping new strains of COVID-19 coming into the UK, such as one identified in South Africa, as the government accelerates the roll-out of vaccines, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said

The measures, set out by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, will come into force next week for passengers arriving in Britain by plane, boat or train. The plan is aimed at stopping new strains of COVID-19 coming into the UK, such as one identified in South Africa, as the government accelerates the roll-out of vaccines, Shapps said.

Entry to England will also be banned to those who have traveled from or through any southern African country in the previous 10 days, the government said, including Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The UK reported 1,162 coronavirus-related deaths Thursday, the highest daily toll since April 21, official figures showed. That brought the overall toll to 78,508.

The tally rose by 52,618 to 2,889,419.

A field hospital in London will be used if necessary to relieve pressure on other hospitals in the city, British Health Minister Matt Hancock said Thursday after leaked official documents suggested London risked running out of beds within two weeks.

Projections leaked to the Health Service Journal showed that even if the number of COVID-19 patients increased at the lowest rate considered likely, London hospitals would be short of nearly 2,000 acute and intensive beds by Jan 19.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in the UK capital on Friday and warned the state-run National Health Service is at risk of being overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus cases.

The announcement represents a stark verdict on the threat of the virus to London’s 9 million residents as pressure mounts on hospitals and ambulance services. It will spark a more coordinated response from emergency services to tackle the crisis, his office said.

READ MORE: England's lockdown could last into March, minister says

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 88.1 million while the global death toll exceeded 1.89 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

WHO Europe

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge once again called for "regional policy coherence and solidarity" as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines gathered pace across parts of the continent, during his first press conference of 2021 on Thursday.

"This moment represents a tipping point in the course of the pandemic - where science, politics, technology, and values must form a united front, in order to push back this persistent and elusive virus."

Kluge voiced concern over the new coronavirus variant, called B117, which is currently confirmed to be in 22 countries.

"It spreads across all age groups, and children do not appear to be at higher risk. But, with increased transmissibility and similar disease severity, the variant does, however, raise alarm as without increased control to slow its spread, there will be an increased impact on already stressed and pressurized health facilities," said Kluge.

He noted that "it was also the WHO assessment that the variant would over time, replace other circulating lineages of the virus in the region as already "seen in the United Kingdom, and increasingly in Denmark".

To mitigate the burden of the new variant and future variants, the WHO official called upon governments in the region to work together and investigate unusually rapid transmissions, increase the sequencing testing and share data.

Kluge balanced a picture of the devastating impact of COVID-19 in 2020 in Europe, which accounts for 26 million COVID-19 cases and more than 580,000 related deaths, with the specter of a more devastating "second wave" as the region begins a new year.

He noted that transmission across the region has sustained at very high rates of infection.

He also addressed the inequality in vaccine rollout across Europe, which has seen some southern European countries unable to provide a reputable vaccine or any vaccine at all to their people.

A health worker (left) prepares a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as residents at a nursing wait along a hall to be inoculated, in Estella, around 38 km from Pamplona, northern Spain, Jan 7, 2021. (ALVARO BARRIENTOS / AP)

Spain

Spain became the fourth Western European country to pass 2 million cumulative COVID-19 cases, health ministry data showed on Thursday, while the rate of infection continued to climb.

The ministry reported 42,360 cases since Tuesday, bringing the total to 2,024,904. The death toll rose by 245 to 51,675.

No data was released on Wednesday due to a national holiday to celebrate Epiphany.

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa warned that the evolution of the pandemic in the country raised "grave concern" and said that there were "complicated weeks ahead", urging people to stay vigilant

Health Minister Salvador Illa warned Thursday that the evolution of the pandemic in the country raised "grave concern" and said that there were "complicated weeks ahead", urging people to stay vigilant.

After dipping below 200 cases per 100,000 people in early December, the coronavirus’ incidence increased steadily to reach 321 cases per 100,000 on Thursday.

Authorities in the northern region of Castile and Leon announced they would close down shopping centers and gyms, and extended a ban on non-essential travel across regional borders until May.

The move follows a similar tightening in northeastern Catalonia, where all citizens are confined to their home municipality for 10 days except for urgent trips.

Spain has vaccinated 207,323 people so far, up by nearly 68,000 since Tuesday.

ALSO READ: Moderna CEO says vaccine likely to protect for 'couple of years'

US

The United States witnessed another grim milestone on Wednesday, with the country's daily COVID-19 cases, deaths as well as total hospitalizations all setting new world records over the course of the pandemic.

A total of 299,904 new cases and 3,844 deaths were reported across the nation on Wednesday, according to data updated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Thursday. Both figures are the highest daily counts since the onset of the pandemic in the country.

The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations surpassed 132,400 cases as of Wednesday, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

A total of 52 cases of the new UK variant have been confirmed in the country, according to the CDC.

The CDC's national ensemble now predicts that a total of 405,000 to 438,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by Jan 30.

In total, the US has recorded over 21.5 million cases with more than 364,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. 

Texas and Pennsylvania became the latest states to report cases of the more-transmissible UK variant.

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health are studying whether COVID-19 vaccines will provide the same level of protection against new strains of the virus as they do against earlier strains, the agency’s lead scientist on coronavirus said.

Denmark 

Denmark is developing a digital “vaccine passport” for people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine, a move that may enable them to travel to countries where such documentation is required during the pandemic.

“It is expected that there may be requirements from other countries to present vaccine documentation upon entry. A Danish vaccine passport can be used here,” the Health Ministry said in an emailed statement on Friday.

The passport may be rolled out in the first months of this year to be accessed through the Danish public health website, the ministry said. It was not clear whether the passport would be available via an app.

Brazil

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll reached 200,498 on Thursday, after 1,524 more deaths were logged during the past 24 hours, official data showed.

According to data released by the Ministry of Health, it was the second highest daily toll since February ,2020. 

Another 87,843 new cases were also reported, bringing the nation's tally of confirmed cases to 7,961,673. It was the highest daily count since Dec 16, when 70,574 new cases were reported.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, remains the worst-hit region with 1,515,158 cases and 47,768 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 452,758 cases and 26,292 deaths.

Brazil has signed an agreement with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo to purchase 100 million doses of CoronaVac's COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Chinese company Sinovac, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said.

A total of 46 million doses will be delivered in April and another 54 million doses by the end of the year, Pazuello said.

Pfizer-BioNTech shot

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus discovered in the UK and South Africa, according to a laboratory study conducted by the US drugmaker.

The not-yet peer reviewed study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch indicated the vaccine was effective in neutralizing virus with the so-called N501Y mutation of the spike protein.

Phil Dormitzer, one of Pfizer’s top viral vaccine scientists, said it was encouraging that the vaccine appears effective against the mutation, as well as 15 other mutations the company has previously tested against.

“So we’ve now tested 16 different mutations, and none of them have really had any significant impact. That’s the good news,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that the 17th won’t.”

Dormitzer noted another mutation found in the South African variant, called the E484K mutation, is also concerning.

The researchers plan to run similar tests to see if the vaccine is effective against other mutations found in the UK and South African variants and hope to have more data within weeks.

Portugal

Portugal will decide next week on potential tougher restrictions that could amount to a new lockdown if a worrying surge in coronavirus infections continues, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Thursday.

The daily tally of COVID-19 cases in the nation of around 10 million people hit a record 10,027 on Wednesday, putting increasing pressure on the health system.

On Thursday, the number of new infections dropped to 9,927, the second-highest daily case total since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total tally to 446,606. More than 7,000 people have died.

Costa said he would wait until a meeting with health experts on Tuesday to make a final decision but said new restrictions could resemble March’s lockdown, which forced all non-essential businesses to close and most people to stay at home for six weeks, although schools would remain open this.

Italy

Italy reported 414 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 548 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 18,020 from 20,331.

In total, Italy has registered 77,291 COVID-19 deaths, the second highest toll in Europe and the sixth highest in the world. The country has also reported 2.220 million cases to date, the  ministry said.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 23,291 on Thursday, up 117 from the day before. There were 156 admissions to intensive care units, compared with 183 on Wednesday.

The current number of intensive care patients rose by 16 to 2,587, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.

Cuba

Cuba currently has 1,916 active COVID-19 cases, the highest since the outbreak of the epidemic in the country, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported Thursday.

MINSAP's National Director of Epidemiology Francisco Duran said that there has been an increase in local infections, accounting for 239 of the 314 newly registered cases, making the epidemiological situation more difficult.

Cuba is slowly opening Havana and other cities to tourism after doing the same with beach resorts in November, eager to breathe life into the devastated industry shuttered last March by the pandemic.

Duran said on Tuesday around 1,000 visitors were entering the country daily, the majority bound for resorts where COVID-19 protocols have proved effective but a trickle headed to the Cuban capital, some after visiting the beach.

Now, some Europeans, Canadians and Latin Americans have appeared although only a few hotels are open and most bed and breakfasts empty.

Hungary

Hungary will extend existing restrictions, including a nighttime curfew, until Feb 1 to curb the spread of novel coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Orban also said digital learning in secondary schools would continue. Primary schools opened this week.

Orban said Hungary had received 80,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine but that was not enough.

“Existing restrictions will be extended until Feb 1,” Orban said, adding that more than 42,000 healthcare workers had received the vaccine.

As of Thursday, Hungary had reported 334,836 novel coronavirus cases and 10,325 deaths. More than 5,000 people are in hospital, down from earlier peaks but the healthcare system is still under strain.

Hungary has not detected the variant of the coronavirus found in Britain yet, surgeon general Cecilia Muller said Thursday.

Colombia

Colombia’s capital will enter a strict quarantine until Tuesday due to rising coronavirus infection numbers and suspicions a new variant of the virus is circulating, Mayor of Bogota Claudia Lopez said on Thursday.

People throughout the capital will be largely confined to their homes from midnight on Thursday until four o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, said Lopez, declaring a red alert in the city. Non-essential shops and businesses will be closed and one person per household will be allowed to buy food or medicine.

Curfews lasting from eight at night until four in the morning will then run until Jan 17.

Colombia has reported more than 1.7 million coronavirus infections and 44,723 deaths from COVID-19, the disease it causes.

In Bogota, which counts for over a quarter of national cases, occupancy of intensive care units for coronavirus stands at 83.9 percent, according to local government figures.

The neighborhoods of Usaquen, Suba, and Engativa will remain in strict quarantine as planned until Jan 18 and strict quarantines will be extended in the neighborhoods of Kennedy, Fontibon, and Teusaquillo until Jan 22, Lopez said.

France

France will keep gyms, theaters and ski lifts closed until at least the end of January, and bars and restaurants until mid-February, Prime Minister Jean Castex said. 

New infections rose by 21,703 on Thursday while deaths increased by 276 to 66,841. 

Curfew measures will remain in place across France until at least Jan 20, Castex said.

Meanwhile, France will keep its border with Britain closed after 19 confirmed cases of the more-transmissible UK variant had been recorded, Castex said. 

The country has also recorded three cases of the South African variant. 

Health authorities are investigating two probable clusters of infection with the UK variant in the western region of Brittany and the Paris region. Authorities found a confirmed case of the UK variant in Paris region that they haven’t been able to link to any travel history.

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent has reached 2,950,109, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Friday.

The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 70,553 while a total of 2,414,219 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Friday.

South Africa

South Africa will receive one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII) later in January, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.

Mkhize said another 500,000 doses will arrive in February from the same company, which produces the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Morocco

Morocco's COVID-19 tally rose to 448,678 on Thursday as 1,597 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Health, the death toll rose to 7,645 as 27 more deaths were recorded.

The total number of recoveries increased by 1,825 to 420,569, while 1,100 people were in intensive care units, the ministry said.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health on Thursday said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the East African country rose to 127,227 after 441 new cases were reported.

The death toll increased by one to 1,966, the ministry said.  

It also said that some 113,021 patients had recovered so far, while there were currently some 12,238 active cases, of which 226 were in severe conditions.

Canada

COVID-19 conditions in Canada continued to deteriorate more than 633,00 COVID-19 cases and 16,500 deaths had been logged as of Thursday, according to CTV.

The bulk of the cases has been reported in the country's two most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, where the pandemic conditions have been deteriorating rapidly in the past weeks.

Ontario reported 3,519 new cases on Thursday, a significant increase from the previous day's 3,266 cases. The province also logged another 89 deaths, the highest daily toll since April 30. 

Quebec, which is to start a four-week curfew from Saturday, reported 2,519 new cases and 74 more deaths.

According to CTV, Canada has reported 11 cases of the new UK variant.

Mexico

A top Mexican health official has traveled to Buenos Aires to discuss COVID-19 vaccines with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, whose government has begun administering Russia’s Sputnik V to hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers.

Citing “reasons of urgency,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday said the official would enquire about Argentina’s experience with the Russian vaccine, including any adverse reactions, to see whether Mexico could also acquire it.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell traveled with foreign ministry official Efrain Guadarrama to exchange information about “distinct vaccine initiatives,” Guadarrama had said on Twitter.

Both Argentina and Mexico have authorized the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. They plan to manufacture it jointly for distribution in Latin America. Mexico has said shots will be given from March.

To date, Mexico has administered 53,185 doses to healthcare workers using Pfizer’s vaccine, the only one available in the country so far.

Chile

Chile registered 3,685 new COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.

In total, Chile has reported 629,176 confirmed cases and 16,913 deaths, while 593,235 people have recovered from the disease.

Some 18,679 cases are considered to be active, the highest number since July.

Infections have increased 33 percent in the past two weeks, Minister of Health Enrique Paris told reporters during his daily press briefing.

Due to the increase, authorities said Thursday that a declared health advisory will be extended for another six months.

Also on Thursday, President Sebastian Pinera announced US$470 million in emergency pandemic relief for the country's poorest households.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria's COVID-19 death toll has risen to 8,017 after 56 additional deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, official figures showed on Friday.

The tally rose by 867 to 207,259, according to data published by the national COVID-19 information portal.

The data also showed that another 1,402 people had recovered, raising the country's total recoveries to 130,191.

Ecuador

Ecuador registered 1,008 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 218,385 and the death toll to 9,577, the Ministry of Public Health reported Thursday.

Pichincha province, the current epicenter of the pandemic, registered 180 infections in a day, of which 173 were recorded in the capital Quito.

Jorge Wated, president of the Board of Directors of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security, told reporters that ICU bed occupancy had about reached the limit of the system's designated COVID-19 hospitals.

Latvia

Latvia's existing coronavirus restrictions and a night curfew on weekends will remain in force until Jan 25 following a decision by the government on Thursday.

The 10pm-5am curfew will have to be observed during Jan 15-17 and Jan 22-24. 

The government decided to extend the existing restrictions on services and retail trade, as well as education for two more weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The restrictions include a ban on beauty care and entertainment services involving contacts between people. For retail trade, only the sale of food products and other essential goods will be allowed.

Meanwhile, the winter break for school children in grades 1 to 4 was extended to Jan 22 and distance learning will continue for most students in other grades.

Germany

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in Germany increased by a record 1,188 in 24 hours, bringing the country's official death toll to 38,795, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Friday.

In the past two days, the daily coronavirus death toll has exceeded 1,000 in the country -- 1,019 deaths on Wednesday and 1,070 on Thursday, the RKI said. The previous daily record was 1,129 deaths registered on Dec. 30, 2020.

Russia

A Russian doctor has refuted rumors that COVID-19 originated in China, according to a recent report by Sputnik.

Doctor and TV presenter Alexander Myasnikov wrote recently on his Telegram channel that some China-related rumors are immature and others are ill-intentioned to attract public attention, the Sputnik reported Wednesday.

The highly infectious disease likely appeared simultaneously around the world, Myasnikov wrote.

For example, in France, the first COVID-19 patient was infected long before the country's first recorded case, whereas in Russia, many cases of anomalous pneumonia were already registered in the fall of 2019, he wrote.

Russia on Friday reported 23,652 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, including 5,027 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,355,794.

Authorities said 454 people had died, taking Russia’s official death toll to 60,911.

Georgia 

Georgia reported 537 more COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking its total to 236,028.

Among the new cases, 290 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health said.

As of Friday, 224,189 of the 236,028 patients have recovered, while 2,728 others have died from the disease, said the center.

Belarus 

Belarus reported 1,805 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking its total to 208,601, according to the country's health ministry.

Meanwhile, 2,177 new recoveries were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 190,966.