A woman reads a book to her son suffering from the coronavirus disease in an intensive care ward of a children's hospital in Kyiv on Nov 16, 2021. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

ZURICH / HELSINKI / HAVANA / BUENOS AIRES / SKOPJE - Ukraine is running out of oxygen supplies that critically ill people need, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, calling for safe passage for emergency imports as combat rages.

"The oxygen supply situation is nearing a very dangerous point in Ukraine. Trucks are unable to transport oxygen supplies from plants to hospitals across the country, including the capital Kyiv," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.

"The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk."

Oxygen is essential for patients with a range of conditions, including the 1,700 in hospital with COVID-19 and those with other critical illnesses stemming from complications of pregnancy, childbirth, sepsis, injuries and trauma.

Critical hospital services were also being jeopardised by electricity and power shortages, while ambulances transporting patients were in danger of getting caught in the crossfire.

The WHO said it was looking to increase supplies, most likely using liquid oxygen and cylinders from regional networks. These supplies would need safe transit routes after leaving a logistics corridor through Poland.

Women stand at a memorial outside the government house covered with small rocks to remember the victims of COVID-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct 18, 2021. (NATACHA PISARENKO / AP)

Argentina

Argentina reported 3,610 new COVID-19 cases and 72 more deaths on Sunday, taking the national counts to 8,897,178 and 126,120 respectively, according to the country's health ministry.

The national positivity rate in the last 24 hours reached 13.27 percent, after 27,194 more tests were administered, the ministry said in its daily report.

There are currently 100,112 active cases in the country, and 1,156 patients are hospitalized in intensive care units, with a bed occupation rate of 39.6 percent nationwide, the ministry said.

Cuba

Cuba reported no COVID-19 deaths for the fourth consecutive day, with the national death toll standing at 8,494, the Ministry of Public Health said Sunday.

The country registered 630 new cases in the past day, raising its total caseload to 1,069,387, and there are currently 2,674 active cases, the ministry said.

People wearing face masks walk in the Smaralind shopping center in Reykjavik, Iceland on Feb 11, 2021 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS / AFP)

Iceland

Effective Feb 25, Iceland removed all COVID-19 restrictions, including those on international travel.

According to the country's government, there are now no numerical limits for indoor or outdoor social gatherings, no health restrictions in schools and no quarantine requirements for those infected by COVID-19.

Travelers are now able to visit the country regardless of vaccination status.

Meanwhile, Iceland's COVID-19 infection rate remains high, with over 2,000 new cases reported per day. There is no comparable increase in the number of severe COVID-19 cases.

The country's chief epidemiologist is banking on herd immunity, saying that the way out of the pandemic is a widespread herd immunity against COVID-19, that is to say, an infection of up to 80 percent of the population, according to a government press release.

To date, around 110,000 Icelandic residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the same number is presumed to have been infected without being diagnosed, it said. Iceland has some 360,000 inhabitants.

People wearing protective face masks walk past the national flag of North Macedonia flying in central Skopje on June 3, 2020. (ROBERT ATANASOVSKI / AFP)

North Macedonia

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in North Macedonia surpassed 9,000 on Sunday, with the Health Ministry reporting seven fatalities in the last 24 hours.

According to the country's Public Health Institute, medical staff have conducted 2,560 tests in the past 24 hours, of which 378 came back positive.

Seven patients diagnosed with coronavirus lost their lives in the same period, raising the number of fatalities in the country to 9,001 since the beginning of the pandemic.

On Sunday, the total tally of confirmed coronavirus cases in North Macedonia reached 297,081, with 283,908 recoveries.