Covid-19: Latest global developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

– Vaccine scepticism ‘suicidal denial’, says pope

Pope Francis urges people to get the vaccination, calling opposition to the jab “suicidal denial” and saying he will get inoculated against the virus next week.

“There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated,” the pontiff says in segments from an interview with Canale 5 to be broadcast in full on Sunday.

– Queen Elizabeth II vaccinated –

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip receive Covid-19 vaccinations.

The queen, 94 and Philip, 99, have spent much of the pandemic in self-isolation at Windsor Castle. It is understood the monarch decided the information should be made public to prevent inaccuracies and speculation.

– UK cases top three million

Britain passes the grim milestone of three million cases during the pandemic, after the government announces another 59,937 new cases.

It also records another 1,035 fatalities from the virus, taking the total death toll to 80,868, one of the highest in Europe alongside Italy.

– China tightens restrictions

Two Chinese cities south of Beijing further tighten virus restrictions, issuing week-long stay-at-home orders to residents as authorities race to stamp out a resurgence in infections ahead of the Lunar New Year next month.

– Australia’s third city enters lockdown

Australia’s third-largest city of Brisbane starts its first day of a snap lockdown, with officials elsewhere on high alert over the emergence of more contagious strains of Covid-19.

– Burundi to close borders

Burundi is to close its land and lakeside borders from Monday and impose a seven-day quarantine on travellers arriving by plane, after a rise in cases.

– France against matches with UK teams

The French government recommends clubs postpone European Cup matches with British teams due to the new Covid-19 variant, raising questions over this year’s Six Nations rugby tournament.

– France to extend curfew restrictions

France extends its longer overnight curfew restrictions to eight more departments, including second city Marseille, after a family cluster of the mutation identified in the UK is found.

– UK variant found in eight US states

Some 63 cases of the UK mutation are found in at least eight US states including California and Florida following a new record for coronavirus cases Friday when 290,000 cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours, according to a real-time tally by Johns Hopkins University.

– At least 1.9 million people dead worldwide

The pandemic has killed at least 1.9 million people worldwide, according to a tally compiled by AFP using official sources and information from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The United States is the country most affected (more than 368,000 deaths) followed by Brazil (over 201,000 dead), India (over 150,000), Mexico (over 132,000) and the United Kingdom (over 80,000)