A refrigerator truck transports Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccines from O.R. Tambo International Airport to a storage facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, Feb 17, 2021. (SHIRAAZ MOHAMED / AP)

AMSTERDAM / BRUSSELS / LONDON / PARIS / ADDIS ABABA / RABAT / WASHINGTON / MADRID / STOCKHOLM / MEXICO CITY / BRASILIA / ROME / BUENOS AIRES / BERLIN / SKOPJE / LJUBLJANA / QUITO / SANTIAGO / ALGIERS / FREETOWN / LISBON / BUDAPEST / BOGOTA / KIEV / MOSCOW - South Africa will begin administering the Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine to health workers on Wednesday, following the arrival of a first consignment of the shots on Tuesday night.

The first shot will be given at Khayelitsha District Hospital in Cape Town, the government said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that 80,000 J&J doses were being prepared for distribution across the country.

“Health teams worked overnight to distribute the vaccines to most parts throughout the country,” South African Medical Research Council Chief Executive Officer Glenda Gray said in an interview with broadcaster SAfm. “In Cape Town, vaccination will start at 12 pm.”

South Africa received an unspecified number of the J&J shots overnight and is in talks to procure an additional 20 million doses.

The country has recorded more than 1.49 million coronavirus cases, the most in Africa. A total of 48,313 people have succumbed to the disease, the health ministry said Tuesday.

In a separate development, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told lawmakers on Tuesday that some African nations have expressed an interest in acquiring South Africa’s AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Sweden

The Swedish government fleshed out tougher new measures under pandemic laws to help the country cope with a potential resurgence in COVID-19 cases in response to “a concerning” increase over the past week.

“There is a significant risk of a third wave of infection,” Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren told reporters on Wednesday.

The government’s plan includes five new measures that will make it easier to “shut down parts of Swedish society.”

The proposals would let the government close shopping centers, gyms and restaurants, as well as allowing it to impose new restrictions on theme parks, zoos and museums. 

There will be a new system to control social gatherings and public events, according to Hallengren.

Members of the US National Guard work at a joint state and federal COVID-19 vaccination site set up on the campus of California State University of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Feb 16, 2021. (JAE C. HONG / AP )

US

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are dropping dramatically across the United States, suggesting that measures to interrupt transmission are working, at least for now.

The US last week reported a 23 percent drop in new cases of COVID-19 and a 16 percent fall in the number of people hospitalized with the virus, with both figures declining for a fifth week in a row.

US hospitalizations from the coronavirus have plunged 39 percent from a winter peak less than four weeks ago, data from the Department of Health and Human Services show. The number of COVID-19 cases treated in US hospitals dropped to 70,277 as of Tuesday from 114,281 on Jan 25.

Cases declined by an average of almost 2,000 a day since Feb 10, with New York, California, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania accounting for almost half of the national drop. In Georgia, 17 percent of in-patients have COVID-19, the highest proportion of any state. Hospitalized cases there have fallen 9.7 percent to 3,374 since Feb 10.

The progress against the virus, however, is threatened by several new variants, experts said. 

Nearly 1,200 infection cases of coronavirus variants have been reported in the 50 US states, according to the latest data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Overall, more than 27.7 million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 among at least 83 million believed to have been infected. A rising number - 11.8 percent of the population - has now received at least one dose of a vaccine. 

READ MORE: Biden unveils plan to pump US$1.9t into virus-hit economy

President Joe Biden predicted that the US will break the vaccination goal he has set. 

“I set a big goal of administering 100 million shots in the first 100 days. With the progress we’re making I believe we’ll not only reach that, we’ll break it,” Biden said in a tweet.The US vaccine supply is increasing to 13.5 million doses per week, up from 11 million, and the number of shots distributed through pharmacies will double, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, US public health advisers are weighing recommendations for extending the interval between the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines, a potential strategy for quickly getting protection to more people amid the spread of new variants.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 109.5 million while the global tally topped 2.42 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

ALSO READ: Virus: Encouraging vaccine data emerges from UK, Israel

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded on the African continent reached 3,759,166 as of Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The death toll stood at 98,915, the Africa CDC said.

A member of the National Hygiene Service uses a fogger to disinfect a school to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Dakar, Senegal, Feb 16, 2021. (LEO CORREA / AP)

EU

Europe’s drugs regulator said on Tuesday it could issue an opinion by mid-March on whether to approve drugmaker Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine under a speedy review.

The US drugmaker said it had submitted a conditional marketing application for the vaccine, called COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen, with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

The EU watchdog said a fast-tracked review of the vaccine by its human medicines committee was possible because it had been already assessing some data in real time, and will now look at the vaccine's efficacy, safety and quality.

J&J said it was ready to begin distributing the vaccine within the European Union (EU) in the second quarter of 2021.

Meanwhile, the EU is adding clauses to contracts with COVID-19 vaccine makers which would allow the bloc to gain access to possible upgraded shots that may offer better protection against variants of the virus, three EU sources said.

One official said the clauses would allow the EU not to buy vaccines that are not effective against widespread variants, and to order upgraded versions instead. However, the source said clauses were vague on the definition of variants and the actual legal power they would give the EU.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission will present a series of measures to boost the EU preparedness against variants, including new funds to help sequence the genome of the new coronavirus and spot variants.

Netherlands

Prime Minister Mark Rutte called on the country on Tuesday to respect the curfew that was imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, saying it was still needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Appellate judges ruled that a night-time curfew would remain in place in the Netherlands pending a government appeal of a lower-court ruling that found the measure lacked legal justification.

Rutte’s coronavirus policy was dealt a major blow earlier in the day when a district court in The Hague said his government had failed to make clear why it was necessary to use emergency powers at this stage of the pandemic.

In announcing the ruling, Presiding Judge Marie-Anne Tan-de Sonnaville said the interests of the state in fighting the virus “carry more weight” than those of the anti-lockdown group behind the lawsuit.

COVID-19 cases are rising again in the Netherlands after weeks of decline as cases of the coronavirus variant that was first detected in the UK have come to predominate among new infections, health authorities said.

In its weekly update, the National Institute for Health (RIVM) said there were 25,229 new cases in the week through Feb 16, slightly more than the week before. But fewer people were tested due to disruptions from a snowstorm and icy weather, and the percentage of suspected cases testing positive increased.

The RIVM estimated that the B.1.1.7 strain became more prevalent in the Netherlands by early February, and now accounts for more than two-thirds of all cases and will continue to grow. 

The Dutch vaccination program has got off to a slow start, with just 2.4 percent of the population so far having received a shot.

UK

Vaccines, drugs and testing at scale are key to easing lockdown measures safely, Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Wednesday as the government prepares to set out a roadmap on how to loosen restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering a staged exit from COVID-19 lockdown that would see the United Kingdom’s battered economy fully returning to work in July, the Daily Mail reported, citing government plans.

Johnson said on Monday he would plot a cautious but irreversible path out of the lockdown this week after the vaccination of 15 million vulnerable people.

According to latest official data, more than 15.5 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.

The UK could give two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to all adults by August or September, helped by its portfolio approach of buying from several different producers, the interim head of the country’s vaccine taskforce told Sky News on Tuesday.

READ MORE: UK PM mulls easing lockdown as vaccination milestone hit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets people waiting to receive their vaccine during a visit to a coronavirus vaccination center at the Health and Well-being Centre in Orpington, south-east London, Feb 15, 2021. (JEREMY SELWYN / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

Meanwhile, the British government has identified an extra 1.7 million people in England at serious risk of coronavirus after using a new computer model that takes into account age, ethnicity and body mass index as well as medical conditions.

Of the new cohort, those over 70 have already been invited for vaccination and 820,000 adults will now be prioritized for the shot “as soon as possible,” the Department of Health said Tuesday in a statement.

The government reported 10,625 new cases and another 799 deaths on Tuesay, bringing the tally to 4,058,468 and the toll to 118,195, official data showed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the weekly number of coronavirus-related deaths in England and Wales had fallen for the first time since Christmas.

In the week ending Feb 5, there were 7,320 fatalities where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, declining by 13 percent from 8,433 deaths the previous week, according to the ONS.

Meanwhile in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that a phased return of pupils to classrooms in the British region will begin on Monday, but the move would mean wider COVID-19 lockdown restrictions may have to stay in place longer.

Belgium

Belgium's national crisis center on Tuesday warned people not to purchase COVID-19 vaccines "off the streets, in stores or online" because their effectiveness and safety hasn't been approved by the authorities.

The warning came as the vaccination campaign in Belgium is gaining momentum, with Brussels launching one of the largest vaccination centers in Belgium on Tuesday.

To date, more than 370,000 people have received their first dose of the vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, and more than 200,000 have been fully vaccinated, Stordeur said.

The public health institute Sciensano reported Tuesday that from Feb 6 to Feb 12, an average of 1,809 new cases per day had been registered, representing a 20-percent decrease compared to the previous week.

To date, Belgium has recorded a total of 739,488 coronavirus cases and 21,702 deaths.

A woman receives the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Magdalena Contreras borough of Mexico City, on Feb 16, 2021, as Mexico begins to vaccinate people over the age of 60 against the novel coronavirus. (MARCO UGARTE / AP)

Mexico

Mexico’s total number of coronavirus cases crossed 2 million with another 8,683 cases recorded on Tuesday, the health ministry said.

The country’s tally of infections now stands at 2,004,575. Mexico also reported 1,329 additional fatalities, bringing the total to 175,986 deaths.

Mexico will this week raise concerns at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday about unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines globally, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said earlier Tuesday.

Speaking alongside Ebrard, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the government would like to see the UN address vaccine hoarding and equity so that “all countries have the possibility of vaccinating their inhabitants”.

Meanwhile, Ebrard said the packaging and distribution of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico had been held up due to a complex certification process that led to major changes at a factory.

“They almost had to make another factory,” Ebrard said. “You are talking about health, life ... so you do have to be very strict in any medicine, with a vaccine more, and even more when the vaccine is so recent.”

ALSO READ: WHO gives AstraZeneca shot emergency clearance

Germany

Germany plans to offer all citizens rapid coronavirus tests free of charge from March 1, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Tuesday.

Spahn also wants to make tests that can be conducted at home available to everyone once they have been approved by regulators.

“These testing options can contribute to a safe everyday life, especially in schools and daycare centers,” Spahn said on Twitter, adding the health ministry was in negotiations with test manufacturers.

The number of new daily infections in Germany has been falling in recent weeks, to 3,856 on Tuesday, although this was around 480 cases higher than a week ago. The seven-day incidence was 59 cases per 100,000.

Russia

Russia on Wednesday reported 12,828 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,282 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,112,151.

Authorities also reported another 467 deaths, raising the official toll to 81,446.

Norway

Norway’s government decided against seeking the authority to introduce a curfew to curtail the spread of COVID-19, the Justice and Emergency Preparedness Ministry said.

The government sees no need for such a legal tool at present and hopes it won’t arise in future, Justice Minister Monica Maeland said in a statement on Wednesday after a round of consultations.

“For almost a year, Norway’s population has faithfully followed advice, recommendations and injunctions,” Maeland said. “Several of the responses we have received indicate that this is largely trust-based and that it has in itself led to reduced rates of infection.”

France

France reported 586 additional coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, down from 724 a week ago, while the seven-day moving average of deaths fell to 381, the first time the average was below 400 since late January.

The number of new confirmed virus infection cases rose by 19,590 to 3.49 million, compared to an increase of 18,870 a week ago. The seven-day moving average of new cases increased to over 18,400.

Hospital numbers eased again, with the total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 down by 283 to 26,239 and the number of people in intensive care down by 33 to 3,348.

The ministry also reported that at total of 3.16 million vaccination shots have been administered, including more than 815,000 second injections.

Biophytis 

Biotechnology group Biophytis said it had received regulatory approval in France and Belgium to recruit more patients for a study of Sarconeos as a potential treatment for breathing problems associated with COVID-19.

“We are extremely pleased that Part 2 of the COVA Study has now also been authorised in France and Belgium,” Biophytis CEO Stanislas Veillet said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Morocco

Morocco received on Tuesday the second batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, the health ministry said.

The batch of 500,000 doses arrived from China at the Casablanca Mohammed V Airport early in the day, and will be dispatched to vaccination centers across the North African country, according to the ministry.

A total of 1,904,169 people had been vaccinated in the country since the nationwide vaccination campaign began on Jan 28.

On Tuesday, Morocco registered 476 new cases and 13 additional fatalities, taking the tally to 479,071 and the toll to 8,504, the ministry said in a statement.

Boxes containing COVID-19 vaccines are unloaded from a Hungarian Airbus 330 cargo plane as the first batch of the vaccine doses produced by China's Sinopharm arrives at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, Feb 16, 2021. (ZOLTAN MATHE / MTI VIA AP)

Hungary

A shipment of 550,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses developed by China's Sinopharm reached Budapest, capital of Hungary, on Tuesday, making it the first country in the EU to receive a Chinese vaccine.

The shipment is enough to treat 275,000 people with the two-dose jab, Dr. Agnes Galgoczy of the National Public Health Center said at a press conference.

With the Sinopharm vaccine, Hungarians will have access to five vaccines against COVID-19. 

On Tuesday, Hungary registered 823 new COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 389,622 and the toll to 13,837, according to the government's website.

A total of 298,773 people have recovered, while there were 3,979 patients still being treated in hospitals, including 318 on ventilators.  

READ MORE: European nations eyeing Chinese vaccines amid delivery crisis

Spain 

Spain's Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 10,057 new COVID-19 cases and 530 deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative caseload to 3,096,343 and the toll to 65,979.

The cumulative incidence of reported cases continued to fall and now stands at 385 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 416 on Monday.

Spain’s government said on Tuesday that the country will receive 20.8 million additional doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine from April, as part of a broader agreement to supply 300 million doses to the European Union.

According to health ministry, 2,624,512 vaccine doses have been administered in the country, and 1,096,922 people have received their two vaccine doses.

Spain hopes the introduction of vaccination passports combined with pre-travel COVID-19 testing will allow British tourists to return to Spanish destinations this summer, a tourism ministry source told Reuters on Tuesday.

The government has no plans to introduce quarantines on foreign visitors, and was also counting on a wider agreement to be hammered out between Europe and Britain to remove restrictions on non-essential travel, the official added.

Ukraine

The Ukrainian health minister said on Tuesday that Kyiv’s coronavirus vaccine purchases were being hampered by “dirty information attacks” that have triggered a corruption investigation against his ministry.

Maksym Stepanov denied wrongdoing after the anti-corruption agency NABU launched an inquiry this month, and said that the accusations of corruption were costing the country dear.

However, the anti-graft agency said its investigation could not harm state procurement.

“So far, detectives have not carried out any investigative actions that could be regarded as hindering the procurement of vaccines,” it said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Ukraine lags behind most European countries in securing COVID-19 vaccines and has yet to start mass vaccinations.

Portugal

Portugal on Tuesday welcomed the first team of health professionals sent by Luxembourg to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

"This can be a seed to build a stronger bilateral relationship between Portugal and Luxembourg, as well as a stronger and more supportive Europe," said Assistant Secretary of State for Health Antonio Lacerda Sales at the reception ceremony.

Sales thanked the Luxembourg government for providing health professionals with experience in intensive care, saying that the support came at the "most difficult time, particularly in Portugal."

Portugal recorded 1,502 new COVID-19 cases and 111 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's infection tally to 788,561 and the death toll to 15,522.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported 665 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 148,490.

The death toll reached 2,223 after 14 additional fatalities were recorded, the ministry said.

Another 199 new recoveries were reported, taking the total recoveries to 129,145, it said.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone on Tuesday announced the reopening of its borders with Guinea, about one year after both countries closed their land borders to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The borders are slated to reopen on Thursday, according ton a communique signed by Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio and his Guinean counterpart, Alpha Conde, during their meeting in Guinea's capital Conakry.

The two sides further pledged to cooperate in tackling urgent public health issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Ebola.

"The two Heads of State expressed their satisfaction with the strategies by the two countries in the COVID-19 pandemic and reaffirmed their determination to coordinate their efforts in obtaining vaccines for their respective populations," reads the communique. 

Italy

Italy reported 336 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 258 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 10,386 from 7,351 the day before.

Italy has registered 94,171 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 2.74 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 18,463 on Tuesday, edging down from 18,515 a day earlier.

There were 154 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 122 on Monday. The total number of intensive care patients fell marginally to 2,074 from a previous 2,089.

Designers stand inside one of their Portable Epidemiological Insulation Unit during a media presentation, in Bogota, Colombia, Feb 16, 2021. The small polyhedral pneumatic geodesic domes can be used to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients in areas where there are no nearby hospitals or where existing hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. (FERNANDO VERGARA / AP)

Colombia

Colombia registered 4,049 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 2,202,598, said the Ministry of Health and Social Protection on Tuesday.

The country also logged 163 additional fatalities, raising the death toll to 57,949, the ministry said.

Minister of Health and Social Protection Fernando Ruiz said that the first COVID-19 vaccines have been sent from Bogota to the departments of Sucre and Cordoba in preparation for the mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Brazil

Brazil recorded 55,271 newly confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 1,167 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Brazil has registered more than 9.9 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 240,940, according to ministry data. 

Argentina

Argentina is set to receive 580,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India’s Serum Institute on Wednesday, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday, bringing the country a step closer to launching a large-scale vaccination program.

The nation hopes to initiate a large-scale vaccination program before the cool weather of the southern hemisphere autumn sets in, officials have said.

Argentina on Tuesday registered 4,003 new COVID-19 cases and 106 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 2,033,060 and the death toll to 50,432, health authorities said.

The capital city of Buenos Aires will be the country's first district to begin the 2021 school year with in-person classes on Wednesday.

Sweden

Mutated coronavirus variants have now been found in 20 of Sweden's 21 counties, Swedish Television SVT News reported on Tuesday.

According to the country's Public Health Agency, 423 cases had been recorded by last week. 

Random checks conducted in four counties in the first week of February revealed that the virus strain that was first discovered in the UK was responsible for 9-20 percent of infections.

Albania

The health ministry of Albania on Tuesday reported 801 new COVID-19 cases, the second day that the daily tally has remained below 1,000.

The fresh cases took the cumulative tally to 94,651.

An additional 15 fatalities were logged, lifting the death to 1,582.

Vaccinations began in the city of Shkodra in northwest Albania on Tuesday, with priority given to healthcare professionals and the elderly living in nursing homes.

According to Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu, the vaccination campaign is scheduled to continue in the seaside city of Vlora.

Canada

The epidemiological curve amid the second wave of COVID-19 infection in Canada has been trending downward for weeks, with the seven-day national average dropping from about 8,000 daily cases in early January to 3,000 over the Valentine's Day weekend.

"Overall, disease activity and severe outcomes are continuing to decline nationally and there are now less than 35,700 active cases across the country," according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Tuesday.

However, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam noted on Tuesday that COVID-19 has come back with another twist, saying that "in the past two months more contagious new variants have emerged in Canada and now appear in all 10 provinces."

Up to Tuesday, Canada has had more than 540 cases of the UK variant, 33 cases of the South African strain and one case of the Brazilian variant.

As of Tuesday evening, Canada has reported a cumulative total of 829,781 COVID-19 cases and 21,362 deaths, according to CTV.  

Ecuador

Ecuador's COVID-19 tally reached 268,073 cases as 372 new cases were registered, the Ministry of Public Health said on Tuesday.

The death toll went up by 36 to 10,669, the ministry said. There were another 4,723 deaths that were likely caused by COVID-19 but have not been confirmed.

According to the daily report from the ministry, Ecuador is facing a sustained increase in infections in all of its 24 provinces.

Algeria

Algeria on Tuesday reported 175 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the North African country to 111,069.

The death toll rose to 2,945 after two more fatalities were added, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the number of recoveries increased by 162 to 76,390, the ministry said.

Chile

The Chilean health ministry on Tuesday reported that 2,547 new COVID-19 infections were registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative caseload to 782,039.

The death toll rose by 20 to 19,644, the ministry said.

A total of 740,465 patients have recovered from the disease, the ministry said, adding that there were 21,539 active cases.

Health Minister Enrique Paris said in a statement that infections have decreased by 15 percent in the last two weeks, with a decline in 14 regions since a new outbreak began in December.

Meanwhile, the ministry reported that 2,092,453 people have been vaccinated so far, of whom 54,819 have had their two vaccine doses.

North Macedonia

The number of fatalities caused by COVID-19 in North Macedonia exceeded 3,000 on Tuesday

According to the health ministry, five more deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 3,003.

The ministry said there were 358 newly confirmed cases, pushing the tally to 97,456.

Currently, there are 6,152 active cases, of which more than 2,700 are in the capital city of Skopje.

Slovenia

Slovenia on Tuesday reported 740 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's infection tally to 180,507.

The death toll rose by five to 3,733.

The national COVID-19 tracker site Sledilnik showed that the country currently has 12,102 active cases. A total of 691 patients are being treated in hospitals, including 127 in intensive care. 

"The infections are scattered across the country, which means the situation is still not as good as we would want it to be," the government's COVID-19 spokesperson Maja Bratusa said at a press briefing.

On Monday, all primary school students and final-year secondary school students from western and central Slovenia returned to school after a four-month suspension due to the pandemic.

Botswana

The COVID-19 case fatality rate in Botswana has increased to one percent since January from 0.3 percent last year, an official said Monday.

In 2020, the case fatality rate was alternating between 0.3 and 0.5 percent, said Mosepele Mosepele, deputy coordinator of Botswana's COVID-19 Task Force Team.

"However, the number of confirmed deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases overall is now standing at 1 percent this year," said Mosepele.

To date, Botswana has registered 25,802 confirmed cases, 226 deaths, and 21, 893 recoveries.