The European Commission recommended Tuesday that EU member states lift the blanket bans some have imposed on arrivals from Britain to allow essential journeys and cargo transport to resume.

France will relax a temporary UK travel ban introduced after a new variant of coronavirus emerged, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday.

Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease specialist, received his Covid-19 vaccine on Monday along with other senior officials and six health workers at a live streamed event at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Iraq has signed a preliminary deal to receive 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in early 2021, the health ministry said. 

The co-founder of BioNTech said Tuesday it was "highly likely" that its vaccine against the coronavirus works against the mutated strain detected in Britain, but it could also adapt the vaccine if necessary in six weeks.

The United States surpassed 18 million reported Covid-19 cases on Monday, figures from Johns Hopkins University showed, as the virus surges nationwide.

Sydney has seen a two-day dip in coronavirus cases after Australian authorities imposed a snap lockdown and residents flocked to testing centres in record numbers, but officials have cautioned the outbreak is still "evolving".

Canada's most populous province, Ontario, will impose a new lockdown beginning Saturday for its 14 million inhabitants, its premier announced Monday as Covid-19 cases climb.

The EU formally approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday after it was given the greenlight as safe by the European Medicines Agency, the bloc's regulator.

The new coronavirus variant discovered in Britain with a higher transmission rate is not yet out of control, the World Health Organization said on Monday, urging measures to help stop its spread.