The state of Western Australia has cancelled plans to reopen its borders on Feb. 5 citing health risks from a surge in Omicron cases elsewhere in the country, as the tally of coronavirus cases in Australia since the pandemic began topped 2 million.
Beijing ramped up efforts to curb COVID-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings, as the city reported an uptick in local cases weeks before the Winter Olympics.
The chairman of the Gavi vaccine alliance, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Wednesday that an additional $5.2 billion is needed to continue to deliver COVID vaccines at scale, as more than 3 billion people in the world have yet to receive their first dose.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said Americans should wear the most protective mask they can, but stopped short of recommending an N95 or similar face covering.
Many countries are expanding COVID-19 vaccine booster programmes or shortening the gap between shots as governments scramble to shore up protection against the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.
A surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant may have peaked in some parts of Europe but medics say the impact will continue to be felt across the region, with hospitals still at risk of facing a rush of admissions.
Americans will be able to order free COVID-19 tests online beginning Jan. 19, part of a plan by President Joe Biden to distribute 1 billion at-home rapid kits to fight the spread of the Omicron variant.
AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Regeneron and GlaxoSmithKline are among the biggest pharmaceutical companies to have developed COVID-19 treatments using a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies, but the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant has put the therapies' effectiveness into question.
South Korea will extend tougher social distancing rules for three more weeks amid concerns over a looming wave of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, officials said.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden's pandemic-related vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses at a time of escalating COVID-19 infections, while allowing his administration to enforce its separate vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is discussing a scaled-back law focused on safeguarding election results and protecting election officials from harassment following Democrats' twin defeats on a voting-rights bill.