A medical worker fills a syringe from a vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 24, 2021 at a vaccination hub outside Rome's Termini railway station. (ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

SANTIAGO / TUNIS / NICOSIA - More than 70 British lawmakers have signalled their opposition to the introduction of so-called vaccine passports that the government is considering bringing in to help to open the economy as it starts lifting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

The government is reviewing the idea of asking people to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to access crowded spaces such as pubs or sports events, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson having already said that a certificate is likely to be needed for international travel.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that trials of COVID passports would begin within weeks during pilots at major sports events and possibly a music awards ceremony in the next two months to assess their impact.

On Friday Johnson said that a combination of immunity factors - if people have had the disease, a vaccination or had a COVID-19 test - would give businesses confidence.

British regulators on Thursday said they have identified 30 cases of rare blood clot events after the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, 25 more than the agency previously reported.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it had received no such reports of clotting events following use of the vaccine made by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc.

Another 4,479 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,350,266, according to official figures released Thursday.

The country also reported another 51 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 126,764. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

EU

Five European Union (EU) member states will share nearly three million additional "solidarity vaccine" doses following an agreement with the majority of other members, the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU announced on Thursday.

After days of negotiations, EU ambassadors agreed to change a system that usually distributes vaccines between the bloc's 27 countries based on population size. The tweak was aimed at helping the member states that need more vaccines in their fight against the coronavirus.

The discussion came after EU leaders adopted a statement at their summit last week tasking the Committee of Permanent Representatives "to address the issue of the speed of delivery of vaccines when allocating the 10 million BioNTech-Pfizer accelerated doses in the second quarter of 2021 in a spirit of solidarity."

Following the talks, it was agreed that 2.85 million so-called "solidarity vaccine" doses will be shared between Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia.

Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia will receive their full pro-rata share after they refused to be part of the solidarity mechanism, while the other 19 member states will be sharing the remaining 6.66 million doses on a pro-rata basis.

Chile

Chile closed its borders and tightened an already strict lockdown further on Thursday to slow the spread of the coronavirus and stop the influx of contagious new variants as cases climbed past 1 million despite one of the world’s fastest vaccination rates.

The dramatic move came as hospitals warned they were close to saturation with middle-aged and younger victims of the disease as cases have spiked in recent weeks following the Southern Hemisphere summer holidays.

Chile struck early deals with vaccine makers Pfizer and Sinovac, and has already vaccinated more than 35 percent of its population, ranking it third in the world for inoculations per capita, according to a Reuters tally.

But a second wave hit before the country could reach a goal of herd immunity by July.

Canada

Ontario declared a four-week state of emergency after hitting a record for the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care, driven by virus strains that are more contagious and dangerous.

The order imposes restrictions on businesses and residents across the Canadian province of 14.7 million people, beginning April 3. Restaurants won’t be allowed to serve customers except for takeout and delivery orders; indoor public events are banned, with a few exceptions. Supermarkets and pharmacies will operate at 50 percent capacity and other retailers at 25 percent.

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US

US Food and Drug Administration makes two revisions to the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine’s emergency use authorization to help increase the number of vaccine doses available, according to a statement. The revisions clarify the number of doses per vial and authorize the availability of an additional multi-dose vial, the statement said.

Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease official, said that the country may not need AstraZeneca’s vaccine even if it passes US regulatory approval, Reuters reports, citing an interview. He said that it is still up in the air when asked whether the US will use the AstraZeneca vaccine doses.

France

New COVID-19 restrictions in France will impact economic growth in 2021 but it is too early to say by how much, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.

“These measures will impact economic growth in 2021. We are in the process of assessing it. There will be a new evalutaion in the coming days”, Le Maire told CNews television.

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday ordered France into its third national lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a third wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

France logged 50,659 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the second day seeing over 50,000 infections after 59,038 cases were reported on Wednesday.

The country's around 67 million inhabitants are set to enter a third lockdown at the weekend to slow a third wave of COVID-19.

Poland

Poland reported a record 35,251 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data.

The death toll jumped by 621 cases, compared with 520 cases the week before. The country of 38 million has so far administered 6.27 million vaccine doses, including 2.04 million second shots.

Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called on German citizens to "consistently abide by all rules" regarding health measures and contact restrictions over Easter.

In a video message, Merkel said that one of the main goals would be to protect the health of as many people as possible and to do everything possible to ensure that the country's healthcare system could withstand the "enormous challenge."

Doctors and nurses in Germany could not win the fight against the third wave of the pandemic on their own. "With our behavior, we can again slow down, stop and then reverse the strong growth in the number of infections," Merkel said.

Germany is currently hit by a third COVID-19 wave as infections continued to increase, with 24,300 new cases registered on Thursday, around 1,600 more than one week ago, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

Student services in Germany have so far paid COVID-19 emergency aid to students in more than 300,000 cases, the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW) said Thursday.

Both domestic as well as foreign students who were enrolled at state and state-recognized universities in Germany could apply for the bridging assistance, according to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Brazil 

Brazil recorded 91,097 new COVID-19 infections and 3,769 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking its nationwide tallies to 12,839,844 and 325,284, respectively, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

In March, 66,868 people died of COVID-19 in the Latin America's largest and most populous country.

According to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, the collapse of the hospital system deepened in the last week in Brasilia and 17 other states, where intensive care bed occupancy rose above 90 percent.

Bolivia 

Bolivia on Thursday announced tighter travel regulations, including a 10-day quarantine for anyone arriving from abroad, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Those entering the South American country by air, land or water must present a certificate of negative PCR test for COVID-19 carried out up to 72 hours before their departure.

Visitors must guarantee they have health insurance, except Bolivians, who are covered by the Unified Health System, and foreigners with permanent residency in Bolivia.

Ethiopia 

Ethiopia registered 2,372 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 208,961 as of Thursday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

Meanwhile, 22 new deaths from the virus were reported across the country, bringing the national death toll to 2,890, said the ministry.

Colombia

Colombia's Ministry of Health and Social Protection on Thursday unveiled updated rules for travelers on national and international flights amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new rules, which take effect on April 7, relax or scrap certain measures while introducing new ones.

For example, there will be no more temperature taking at air terminals, since evidence now shows it is not an imperative measure, according to the ministry's director of epidemiology and demography, Julian Fernandez.

Ecuador 

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Ecuador surpassed 12,000 on Thursday, after registering 26 more in the last 24 hours, for a death toll of 12,003, the Ministry of Public Health said, adding that another 1,633 infections were reported as well, bringing the total caseload to 330,388.

Four more "probable deaths" due to the virus were also recorded for a total of 4,874.

The capital city of  Quito of the South American country registered 360 new infections in the last 24 hours to total 106,365 cases, while Guayaquil recorded 218 to total 28,595 infected.

Tunisia

Tunisian Health Ministry on Thursday reported 1,290 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 255,308.

The death toll from the virus rose by 31 to 8,843, the ministry said in a statement.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,271, including 325 in intensive care units, while the total number of recoveries reached 217,928, it added.

Cuba 

Cuba reported on Thursday 1,013 new COVID-19 infections in one day, surpassing 1,000 cases for the third consecutive day, totaling 76,276 cases, the Ministry of Public Health said.

 In its daily report, the ministry also registered one more death due to the virus, bringing the total to 425.

Havana had 490 more infections and is the epicenter of the pandemic, with the highest number of daily cases in the country and an incidence rate of 321.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Slovenia 

Slovenia entered its third COVID-19 lockdown on Thursday to stem the new wave of infections driven by the highly virulent virus variant first identified in the United Kingdom (UK).

The lockdown is planned to last until April 11. However, on Easter Sunday up to two households will be allowed to socialize.

Schools will once again switch to remote teaching. The wearing of face masks will be mandatory outdoors, except during recreation. People will be banned from leaving their region, except for going to work, providing aid or fulfilling diplomatic missions, among other things.

A ban on gatherings will be in place and people will be allowed to socialize only with members of their own household. All celebrations will be banned and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will remain in place. Direct sales of goods and services to consumers will be banned with a few exceptions, such as grocery stores, pharmacies or florists.

Latvia

The Latvian government on Thursday decided to end the nationwide COVID-19 emergency on April 7 and start a phased transition to a safe mode of living amid the ongoing pandemic.

The state of emergency has been in force in Latvia since Nov 9, 2020.

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said that although the epidemiological situation remains delicate in the country, the government supports a transition that would allow for greater economic activity and more in-person learning in schools.

Morocco 

Morocco registered 579 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the total cases in the North African country to 496,676, the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 483,711 after 348 new ones were added.

The death toll rose to 8,825 with seven new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 439 people are in intensive care units.

Cyprus 

Cyprus reopened its airports to tourists on Thursday in a bid to revive its largest economic sector, a spokeswoman for the operator of the country's two international airports said.

She told CyBC state radio that, as of April 1, international travelers are no longer required to quarantine upon arrival, but they are requested to present one or two negative COVID-19 tests according to the classification of the country where they come from.

Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yiannis Karousos said that more than 800 flights to and from Cyprus are expected until the end of April, up from less than 150 in March, with about 30 airliners offering a total of 140,000 seats.

Algeria 

Algeria on Thursday reported 112 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total confirmed number in the North African country to 117,304.

The death toll from the virus rose to 3,096 after three new fatalities were added, said the Algerian Ministry of Health in a statement.

Meanwhile, 94 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 81,632, the statement added.

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Africa 

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,222,260 as of Thursday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stood at 112,820, while 3,771,866 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.

The African continent accounts for 3.3 percent of total COVID-19 cases reported globally. And COVID-19 related deaths in the African continent account for about 4 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths recorded globally, the Africa CDC disclosed.