- Covid-19 deaths are falling in the UK.
- The US passed 900 000 deaths.
- There is an increase of the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron in SA.
The coronavirus pandemic reached a grim new milestone in the United States on Friday with the nation's cumulative death toll from Covid-19 surpassing 900 000, even as the daily number of lives lost has begun to level off, according to data collected by Reuters.
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Africa and Middle East
* South Africa is seeing more cases of the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant and is monitoring it, but there is no clear sign that BA.2 is substantially different from the original Omicron strain, a senior scientist said.
* Turkey recorded 111 157 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, its highest daily figure of the pandemic, while the daily death toll was its highest in four months, health ministry data showed.
Europe
* Britain reported 54 095 Covid-19 cases and 75 deaths in its daily official data on Sunday, with the seven-day figure for both falling compared with the week before.
* Spain will next week lift a requirement for people to wear masks outdoors, extending a wider rollback of restrictions as contagion slowly recedes in the country.
Americas
* Mexico's health ministry on Sunday reported 10 234 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 129 more deaths, bringing the total number of infections in the country since the pandemic began to 5 151 525 and the death toll to 309 546.
* Honduran President Xiomara Castro has tested positive for Covid-19, she said on Sunday, adding that she has mild symptoms and will be working in isolation.
Asia-Pacific
* Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday he wants to speed up the country's Covid-19 booster shot programme to one million shots a day by the end of the month, about double the current pace.
* Authorities in China's southwestern city of Baise ordered residents to stay at home from Monday and avoid unnecessary travel as they enforced curbs that are among the toughest in the nation's tool-box to fight rising local infections of Covid-19.
* The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee said on Monday that 24 new Covid-19 cases were detected among games-related personnel on 6 February.
* Australia will fully reopen its borders to all vaccinated visa holders from 21 February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, nearly two years after he shut the border to non-citizens to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
* More than 17 million Vietnamese students were due to return to school on Monday for the first time in about a year, the health ministry said, as authorities announced plans to start vaccinating children from as young as five against Covid-19.
* Hong Kong is expected to report a record of around 610 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, while 300 others were found positive in preliminary tests, broadcaster TVB reported, citing an unnamed source.
Medical developments
* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday the government would consider granting conditional early approval for the oral Covid-19 treatment being developed by Shionogi & Co Ltd.
* India has given regulatory approval to Russia's one-shot Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said.
Economic impact
* Asian share markets mostly eased on Monday after stunningly strong US jobs data soothed concerns about the global economy but also added to the risk of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.
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