In this Dec 31, 2020 photo, a healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at a large vaccination centre open by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in the Israeli coastal city. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
SAO PAULO / RABAT / PARIS / GENEVA / MEXICO CITY / BOGOTA / ABUJA / LISBON / MADRID / PRAGUE / CARACAS / ROME / JOHANNESBURG / ST MORITZ / LONDON / BERLIN / KIGALI / ADDIS ABABA / QUITO / TUNIS / ALGIERS / HAVANA / SANTIAGO / LUSAKA / UNITED NATIONS / MOSCOW / BELGRADE - The European Union (EU) wants to set up a mechanism that would allow the sharing of surplus COVID-19 vaccines with poorer neighbouring states and Africa, the EU health chief said on Tuesday.
The EU, with a population of 450 million, has already secured nearly 2.3 billion COVID-19 vaccines and candidates from six companies, although most of them still need regulatory approval.
"We are working with member states to propose a European mechanism to share vaccines beyond our borders," EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides told EU lawmakers on Tuesday, confirming a Reuters report from December.
She stressed the mechanism would get vaccines to poorer countries "before COVAX is fully operational", referring to the global scheme co-led by the WHO set up last summer to ensure a fair distribution of COVID-19 shots across the world.
Kyriakides said the EU vaccine-sharing scheme should prioritise health workers and most vulnerable people in the Western Balkans, North Africa and poorer Sub-Saharan African countries.
The EU official said the EU could give some vaccines to COVAX which would then distribute them to poor countries.
WHO
Following two weeks of reports of a decline in coronavirus cases, likely due to the holiday period, an overall upward trend was observed in the first few weeks of 2021, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Monday.
Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said at the ongoing 148th session of the WHO Executive Board that some 5 million cases of COVID-19 were reported last week globally.
The number of newly reported deaths has also shown a similar trend,with more 93,000 deaths reported last week, and the figure is likely to reach 100,000 deaths per week very soon, he said.
Although nearly 84 percent of deaths involved people over 65 years old, it is important to note that some 16 percent of all deaths were recorded among those aged between 25 and 64, according to Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program Mike Ryan
Globally, as of 2:55 pm CET (1355 GMT) on Monday, a total of 93,611,355 confirmed cases, including 2,022,405 deaths, had been reported to WHO.
ALSO READ: World hits 2 million COVID-19 deaths with cases still surging
According to Ryan, although nearly 84 percent of deaths involved people over 65 years old, it is important to note that some 16 percent of all deaths were recorded among those aged between 25 and 64.
The WHO official also said that the more cases a country has, the higher the mortality impact will be in the country's population.
"So in that sense, the previous strategies of herd immunity, by mass infection rather than mass vaccination, will lead to high incidence and high mortality," he said.
Meanwhile, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response highlighted in its new report effective multilateralism in the preparation and response to the COVID-19 crisis, saying that the consequences of this pandemic reminded the world of how important effective multilateralism is.
Geopolitical tensions have impacted on the response, and the resulting pandemic has given us many interlinked reasons to rethink and reset the way in which the international system and countries prepare and respond to global health threats," said the panel's co-chair Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
On the COVAX initiative, a senior WHO official said that the WHO was in advanced negotiations with Pfizer to include the firm's COVID-19 shot in the body's vaccine-sharing scheme, which would speed vaccine deliveries to poorer countries.
COVAX aims to deliver 135 million doses of all shots it has deals for to 92 lower and middle income countries in the program by the end of March, WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward said.
READ MORE: WHO chief: COVAX has secured 2 billion virus vaccine doses
US
US COVID-19 confirmed cases topped 24 million, with total deaths approaching 400,000 on Monday, two days ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
The country recorded over 24.04 million cases and more than 398,000 deaths as of 5:00 pm Monday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration rejected a move by President Donald Trump to rescind coronavirus-related travel bans for non-American citizens arriving from the European Union, the UK and Brazil, which means the curbs will stay in effect.
Trump said in a White House announcement Monday that the bans could be lifted because of a decision last week by the administration to require international travelers to present either the results of a negative recent coronavirus test or evidence that they had already recovered from the disease. The change was due to go into effect Jan 26.
Soon after Trump’s order was made public, Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted: “on the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26.”
In another development, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he asked Pfizer Inc if the state could buy vaccines directly from the company because the US government has failed to increase supply.
Beatriz Perondi, the medical coordinator of the Hospital das Clinicas, is inoculated with China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan 18, 2021. (MARCELO CHELLO / AP)
Brazil
Brazil launched a mass immunization campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic in every state starting at 5:00 pm Monday local time (2000 GMT).
The initial plan was to begin nationwide vaccination on Wednesday, but the date was moved up in response to the request of state governors, said Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello.
"The governors asked that as soon as (the vaccines) arrive in the states, they have the freedom to begin vaccination," Pazuello said.
As of Monday afternoon, all states were expected to have received their doses of the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese laboratory Sinovac in collaboration with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo, one of the world's leading scientific research centers.
Brazil's health regulatory agency Anvisa on Sunday afternoon authorized the emergency use of CoronaVac and a vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
Currently, only the CoronaVac vaccine is available in the South American country, and some 6 million doses are being distributed.
Mexico
Mexico confirmed 8,074 new coronavirus cases and 544 more fatalities on Monday, according to health ministry data, bringing its official tally to 1,649,502 infections and 141,248 deaths.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the government aimed to compensate for a reduction in deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer Inc with those from other providers.
Mexico had been expecting weekly deliveries of some 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine developed with Germany's BioNTech SE. As a result of the US drugmaker's WHO agreements, Mexico would for now only be receiving half that total, Lopez Obrador said at a regular news conference.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently the only one being administered in Mexico. Mexico has approved the AstraZeneca shot and expects to have it by March.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the active ingredient in AstraZeneca's shot would be sent to Mexico from Argentina on Monday, allowing manufacturers to start the final packaging process.
Mexico is still reviewing China's CanSino vaccine. The country said it also expects to approve the Sputnik V vaccine for use soon.
Morocco
Morocco’s health ministry confirmed on Monday its first imported case of the more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus first discovered in the UK.
The variant was detected in the northern port of Tangier in a Moroccan national returning from Ireland via Marseille, the ministry said in a statement.
READ MORE: Vaccine disparities raise alarm as COVID-19 variants multiply
The announcement came as the ministry reported 473 new COVID-19 cases and another 761 deaths, taking the tally to 460,144 and the death toll to 7,977.
Also on Monday, the foreign ministry said travelers from Australia, Brazil, Ireland and New Zealand will not be allowed into the country.
Morocco has announced it plans to launch a free vaccination campaign targeting 25 million people, or 80 percent of its population.
The country ordered 66 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca Plc and China’s Sinopharm. It has not yet received any.
France
France has detected about 2,000 cases of the more contagious COVID-19 variant first identified in Britain, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Tuesday.
Veran told the France Inter radio that the new strain accounts for 1.4 percent of new cases confirmed in France, or 200-300 infections per day.
In a report published on Monday, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) said it expected the COVID-19 new strain (VOC) would become dominant at home between late February and mid-March, depending on the epidemic evolution.
France's average daily new COVID-19 infections hit a six-and-a-half week high of 18,270 on Monday, while the number of people being treated in intensive care units for the disease rose above 2,800 for the first time in a month.
The health ministry also said that the number of people to receive coronavirus vaccines since France launched a nationwide campaign on Dec 26 had reached 479,873 as of Monday, up from 422,127 the previous day.
Prime Minister Jean Castex reaffirmed on France 5 television that a new confinement could be imposed if the situation worsened. Recent polls show that French overwhelmingly think such a measure will eventually be needed.
The French health ministry reported 3,736 new infections over the previous 24 hours on Monday, bringing France's cumulative total of cases near 3 million, the sixth-highest in the world.
A sign shows the way to the COVID-19 emergency ward at the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, Jan 18, 2021. (ARMANDO FRANCA / AP)
Portugal
The Portuguese government reintroduced travel restrictions between municipalities on weekends.
Most stores that are still allowed to stay open will have to close by 8 pm on weekdays and 1 pm on weekends, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at a press conference on Monday. The government also limited certain takeaway services.
Portugal recorded a record number of COVID-19 related deaths on Monday as its hospitals struggled to cope.
The country posted 167 COVID-19 related deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 9,028 since the pandemic began.
With 6,702 new cases, the cumulative tally of infections in the country has now reached 556,503.
A record 664 coronavirus patients were in intensive care, just below the 672 maximum allocation of ICU beds out of a total of just over 1,000, health authorities said.
ALSO READ: WHO chief: Vaccine nationalism could prolong pandemic
Ireland
Ireland reported its fewest new coronavirus cases since Jan 1, in a sign that one of the world’s worst outbreaks is beginning to slow.
The country reported 2,121 new cases - the fourth day in a row cases have fallen - with eight deaths.
The positivity rate fell to 10.2 percent from 25 percent a fortnight ago.
Still, case numbers are not close to being at an acceptable level, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan told reporters in Dublin. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but not nearly as much as we need to take,” he said.
Serbia
Serbian health authorities approved the use of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday evening, two days after a million doses were imported from China, enabling the country to begin with the mass immunization of its population.
"The import permit and a certificate of analysis were issued for the initial 100,000 doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine," Pavle Zelic, an official with the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Serbia, told local media.
"The agency and its employees assessed the necessary documentation and scientific evidence in a highly professional and thorough manner according to all European Union and World Health Organization standards, which confirmed the quality, efficiency, and above all the safety of the Chinese vaccine," the Tanjug news agency quoted Zelic as saying.
Sinopharm's vaccine thus fulfilled legal preconditions and became the third vaccine available to the Serbian population, after the Pfizer-BioNtech and the Sputnik V vaccines, which arrived in the country in December and were given to high-risk groups.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic also announced that a mass immunization will start from Tuesday, with teachers, policemen, soldiers and journalists under the priority group.
In the past 24 hours, Serbia recorded 1,578 new infections, bringing its tally to 374,111. So far, 3,771 have died from the virus while 5,214 were hospitalized.
Colombia
Colombia's Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo is in intensive care after being infected with the coronavirus, the government said on Monday.
Trujillo tested positive for the virus last week, a day after the Ministry of Foreign affairs reported that Foreign Minister Claudia Blum had tested positive for the virus.
Also on Monday, the mayor of Colombia's capital Bogota said that the city will impose nightly curfews for almost two weeks, while the whole city will enter yet another full quarantine this weekend.
Nightly curfews first started last week and continued until Sunday. However, they will begin again from Tuesday and will run until Jan 28. During this time citizens must remain in their homes from 8 pm until 4 am, Mayor Claudia Lopez said.
Additionally, from 8 pm this Friday, Bogota will enter a general quarantine with total restriction on movement in the city until Jan 25 at 4 am, she added.
Outside of general quarantines, restrictions on who can shop based on the number of people's national identity cards will remain in place, Lopez said.
Colombia has reported more than 1.9 million coronavirus cases, as well as over 49,000 deaths. In Bogota, which counts for more than 560,000 of the country's cases, occupancy of intensive care units for COVID-19 patients stands at 93.2 percent, according to local government figures.
Students from Oregun Junior and Senior High School, wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus, attend lectures in a classroom in Lagos, Nigeria, Jan 18, 2021, as both public and private schools reopened following months of closure to curb the spread of the virus. (SUNDAY ALAMBA / AP)
Africa
The number of COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent rose to 3,262,243 as of Monday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
Meanwhile, the death toll stood at 78,911, the Africa CDC said.
Nigeria
The Nigerian government has announced a 10 billion naira (about US$25.3 million) fund to support domestic vaccine production to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
At a news conference on Monday in Abuja, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire revealed that the ministry of finance has released the 10 billion naira fund as the country is working to develop an indigenous coronavirus vaccine.
"While we are working to develop our own vaccines, Nigeria is exploring options for licensed production, in collaboration with recognized institutions. We are also exploring the option of local production of the vaccines in the country," Ehanire said.
Ehanire told reporters that the number of new COVID-19 cases had continued to rise in the country, with 10,300 confirmed cases having been reported from just 50,750 samples tested in one week, translating into a 20 percent positive rate.
Spain
Spain reported a record rise in coronavirus infections over the weekend and the number of new cases measured over the past 14 days spiked to 689 per 100,000 people on Monday from 575 on Friday, health ministry data showed.
Nearly 84,300 new cases were reported since Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 2,336,451, the data showed. Deaths rose by 455 over the same period to 53,769.
Faced with new record infection rates, Spain has begun giving second shots of coronavirus vaccines to elderly nursing home residents, while a court in Seville ruled on Monday that one home could inoculate a resident against her family's wishes.
By Monday morning, eight of Spain's 17 regions had got underway with the second round of jabs, the health ministry said.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has confirmed the detection of the new UK coronavirus variant, the country's National Institute of Public Health said on Monday.
A spokeswoman said the mutation had been proven in part of samples that had been sequenced, while sequencing continued on others. She said more information would be released on Tuesday.
The country of 10.7 million has been one of the worst-hit globally with 14,449 deaths so far and more than 150 daily deaths most days this month.
Health Minister Jan Blatny said at a news conference that about 10 percent of recent cases were suspected to be of the new variant, which posed a risk for future load on the health system.
The minister said the government would keep lockdown measures, including the closure of nearly all schools and most shops, in place despite signs that the number of new cases was easing, with the aim of sharply reducing the load on hospitals.
Venezuela
Venezuela's civil aviation authority said on Monday it is reopening flights to Panama and the Dominican Republic that it shut last month due to coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, Venezuela allowed flights to Turkey, Mexico, Bolivia, Panama and the Dominican Republic, but weeks later halted air service to the latter two countries as part of its coronavirus prevention strategy.
The flights to Panama and the Dominican Republic are once again authorized, the Civil Aeronautics Institute of Venezuela said in a statement posted to Twitter.
Copa Airlines typically provides service between Venezuela and Panama, while Venezuela's Laser Airlines has operated the Caracas-Santo Domingo route.
Italy
Italy reported 377 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday, the same amount as the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 8,824 from 12,545.
In total, Italy has registered 82,554 COVID-19 deaths and 2.39 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 22,884 on Monday, up 127 from a day earlier.
There were 142 new admissions to intensive care units, against 124 the day before.
The total number of intensive care patients rose by 41 to 2,544.
Switzerland
Officials in the upscale Swiss mountain resort of St Moritz quarantined employees and guests of two luxury hotels, closed ski schools and kept schoolchildren home on Monday after a dozen positive tests for a highly infectious coronavirus variant.
About 300 employees and 95 guests at the Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski St Moritz and Badrutt's Palace Hotel were quarantined. The eastern canton of Grisons ordered everyone to wear masks in the town of 5,200 that prides itself as a birthplace of modern winter sports.
The two hotels confirmed the quarantine, and the Kempinski confirmed that some of its employees had tested positive for the mutated virus.
Authorities had identified mutations common to highly infections coronavirus variants found in South Africa and Britain, though they could not say whether samples matched either variant because the samples had yet to be genetically sequenced.
A view of the Hotel Kempinski in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Jan 18, 2021. The hotel is one of two hotels that Swiss authorities have placed under quarantine and ordered all guests and employees to be tested after a new variant of the coronavirus was detected among them in the upscale skiing resort of St. Moritz. (GIANCARLO CATTANEO / KEYSTONE VIA AP)
UK
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he is self-isolating until Sunday after receiving a warning from the health service's COVID mobile phone app that he may have been in contact with someone who tested positive.
"Last night I was alerted by the @NHSCOVID19app to self isolate so I'll be staying at home & not leaving at all until Sunday," Hancock said on Twitter Tuesday.
Hancock said Monday that there were more people currently in hospital than at any other time during the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at a virtual press conference at Downing Street, Hancock said that hospitals in Britain are under enormous pressure amid surging coronavirus infections with someone admitted every 30 seconds. The number of people in hospital with the virus is at its highest level at 37,435, he said.
Meanwhile, a study suggested that nearly a third of people who were discharged from hospitals in England after being treated for COVID-19 were readmitted within five months, and almost one in eight died, the Guardian newspaper reported Monday.
In a more positive note, Hancock said the government's plan to vaccinate all the four most vulnerable groups covering 15 million people by mid-February is on track. Hancock confirmed that Britain is aiming to offer all adults the vaccine by September, noting that 4 million jabs having been delivered so far.
Two British hospitals are using blockchain technology to keep tabs on the storage and supply of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines, the companies behind the initiative said on Tuesday, in one of the first such initiatives in the world.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Monday that the easing of lockdown will be "gradual" despite progress of vaccine roll out.
The UK reported 37,535 new cases and 599 deaths on Monday, bringing the tally to 3,433,494 and the death toll to 89,860, official data showed.
It is too hard to set a date yet for when schools can reopen after shutting to most students earlier this month as part of lockdown measures, a senior medical official in England said.
Meanwhile, Hauliers require a negative COVID-19 test before travelling from Britain to Denmark and the Netherlands, the government said.
Separately, Johnson was criticized in parliament on Monday for refusing to commit to the renewal of a temporary welfare payment increase brought in last year to help people through the pandemic.
Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to extend a lockdown to restrict coronavirus infections until Feb 15 and make medical masks obligatory on public transport and in shops, according to a draft resolution by the federal government seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The government proposed keeping schools closed until mid-February and improving aid for companies affected by the lockdown extension, according to the draft. It also proposed creating a working group to work out how to exit restrictions safely and equitably.
Merkel is holding talks with state premiers on Tuesday on a possible extension and tightening of Germany’s virus measures, with curfews considered.
The chancellor is likely to agree with regional leaders stricter requirements for working from home among other measures as they try to rein in the virus, leading politicians said.
New infections have been decreasing in recent days and pressure on intensive care units has eased slightly, but virologists are worried about the possible spread of more infectious variants of the virus.
There were 9,253 new cases in Europe’s biggest economy in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University data. An additional 482 people died.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases Tudsday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 11,369 to 2,052,028. The reported death toll rose by 989 to 47,622, the tally showed.
UN
The effects of COVID-19 have worsened the plight of about 31.4 million people in the Sahel last year, with 14 million - double a year earlier - acutely food insecure, UN humanitarians said on Monday.
"This year, humanitarian needs will once again grow in the Sahel," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a release.
Peace, good governance and development are needed to make a meaningful change in the lives of millions of people in the southern fringes of the Sahara, said OCHA.
Insecurity has increased in Burkina Faso, Mali, western Niger - the Central Sahel - where the number of internally displaced people has risen 20-fold since 2018, it said.
Northeastern Nigeria and Burkina Faso are facing the risk of famine, according to early warning analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme.
Of the US$6.3-billion appeal by OCHA to respond to needs in the Sahel in 2020, only 46 percent was raised, the agency said.
Rwanda
The Rwandan cabinet on Monday re-imposed a lockdown in the capital city of Kigali due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The lockdown, which became effective immediately and will be reviewed after 15 days, prohibits unnecessary movements in the city.
Travels between Kigali and other places are banned, and public transport in the city is suspended.
The lockdown measures also include the closure of businesses and working from home.
However, tourists are permitted to leave the capital city and tourism activities will continue in strict adherence with COVID-19 health guidelines, according to a communique. The cabinet also allowed farming for the current agricultural season and funeral gatherings with no more than 15 persons.
Rwanda on Monday reported 227 new cases in the past 24 hours, including 139 in Kigali, bringing the total to 11,259 cases, along with 7,412 recoveries and 146 deaths.
Ethiopia
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia rose to 131,546 after 351 new cases were reported, the country's Ministry of Health said on Monday.
The ministry said that another three fatalities were reported, lifting the death toll to 2,033.
Some 116,335 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far, including 188 in the last 24-hour period, the ministry added.
There were currently 13,176 active cases, of which 224 were in severe condition.
Ecuador
Ecuador registered 162 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing its total caseload to 231,644, the Ministry of Public Health reported on Monday.
The death toll rose by three to 9,717, the ministry said.
The authorities attributed the increase in cases to citizen indiscipline and crowds, which have pushed the occupancy rate of the intensive care beds of hospitals to the maximum level.
The province of Pichincha continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic with 81,133 cases, of which most were located in the capital city of Quito.
Chile
Chile on Monday reported 3,918 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 673,750, according to the Ministry of Health.
In its daily report, the ministry also reported 70 deaths in the same period, lifting the death toll to 17,547.
COVID-19 cases in the South American country have increased 58 percent in the last two weeks.
The ministry ruled out a quarantine in Santiago's metropolitan area for the time being, given that a 4 percent positivity rate was recorded Monday.
Family members watch as paramedics from the Tshwane city's Special Infection Unit wheel a man with COVID-19 symptoms, inside a isolation chamber equipped with a negative pressure filtration system, from his house in the north of Pretoria, South Africa, on Jan 15, 2021. (PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)
South Africa
South Africa’s genomic scientists have found the new coronavirus variant driving the country’s resurgence of new cases is about 50% more transmissible than earlier versions.
The 501.V2 strain identified last month “can attach to human cells more efficiently” than its predecessors, Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of the COVID-19 ministerial advisory committee, said in a presentation. However, data show it is not more likely to cause hospitalization or death, he said Monday.
British scientists and politicians have expressed concern that vaccines currently being deployed or in development could be less effective against the South African variant. It has more than 20 mutations including several in the spike protein the virus uses to infect human cells.
But Karim said there was as yet no answer to that question, although scientists around the world were working on it.
In South Africa, studies into the new variant’s resistance to vaccines have yet to be completed, and evidence will be provided when available, Karim said.
The country’s second wave was far more severe than than the initial one in July, though may have passed its peak, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a presentation. New case numbers have started to fall, giving some cause for optimism.
So far, South Africa has detected 1.35 million coronavirus cases, the most in Africa, and 37,449 people who tested positive have died, latest Health Ministry statistics show.
Tunisia
The Tunisian Health Ministry on Monday night reported 1,795 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 181,885.
The death toll rose by 58 to 5,750, the ministry said in a statement.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,925 while the total number of recoveries stood at 131,019, it added.
Algeria
Algeria on Monday reported 259 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally to 104,092.
The death toll rose to 2,840 after four additional fatalities were recorded, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The total number of recoveries increased by 193 to 70,807, it said.
Cuba
Cuba's Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 292 new COVID-19 infections, the lowest daily tally in the past 11 days, bringing the cumulative total to 18,443 cases.
The ministry also reported three more deaths, taking the total death toll to 173.
The ministry's National Director of Epidemiology Francisco Duran warned that there was still a high number of active cases at 4,439, including a 12-year-old boy in critical condition and four other minors in serious condition.
Zambia
The Zambian government on Monday called on the country's medicines regulator to withdraw all unlicensed medicines being used in the treatment of COVID-19.
Minister of Health Jonas Chanda said he has received reports that some people were being given medicines that have not been approved or licensed for use, saying this could cause complications in people taking such medicines.
He said that the use of local home-based remedies should not replace conventional medicines, adding that they should be used only as a complementary therapy.
Russia
Russia on Tuesday reported 21,734 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 3,281 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 3,612,800.
Authorities said 586 people had died overnight, taking the official death toll to 66,623.
Russia expects to start COVID-19 vaccinations for as much as 14 percent of the population in the first quarter after President Vladimir Putin last week told authorities to provide universal access to the inoculations.
Russia should have the production capacity to provide the first shot of one of its two registered vaccines to more than 20 million people this quarter, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Monday in a televised meeting.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe posted 60 more COVID-19 deaths on Monday, the highest daily toll reported, pushing the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 773.
Another 689 new cases, all locally transmitted, were also reported, bringing the tally to 27,892, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said in a statement Tuesday morning.
