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Britain is expanding a coronavirus vaccination program that has seen more than 6 million people get the first of two doses — even as the country’s death toll in the pandemic approaches 100,000. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that three-quarters of the U.K.’s over-80s have received a vaccine shot. He said three-quarters of nursing home residents

Reading Time: 2 minutes JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel will ban passenger flights in and out of the country from Monday evening for a week, the government announced on Sunday, as protesters in some ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities clashed with police over coronavirus lockdown measures. Clashes broke out between ultra-Orthodox protesters in the city

Reading Time: 2 minutes MILAN, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Italy will take legal action against Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca over delays in deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to secure agreed supplies rather than seek damages, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday. “We are working so our vaccine plan programme does not change,” Di Maio said on RAI state

Reading Time: 2 minutes LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Britain has detected 77 cases of the South African variant of COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, also urging people to strictly follow lockdown rules as the best precaution against Britain’s own potentially more deadly variant. Matt Hancock said all 77 cases were connected to travel from

Reading Time: 2 minutes OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s capital Oslo and nine neighbouring municipalities imposed some of their toughest lockdown measures yet on Saturday after an outbreak of a more contagious coronavirus variant, first identified in Britain. Shopping centres and other non-essential stores will be closed from noon, for the first time in

Reading Time: 2 minutes WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Between 150 and 200 National Guard deployed to Washington, D.C., to provide security for President Joe Biden’s inauguration have tested positive for the coronavirus, a U.S. official said on Friday. The U.S. government imposed unprecedented security measures in the city following the deadly Jan. 6 attack

Reading Time: < 1 minute PARIS (Reuters) – The number of people with coronavirus in French intensive care units fell by 16 to 2,896 in data released on Saturday, the first decline in two weeks after a period of sharp rises. The number of people in intensive care is a key measure of a health system’s ability to cope with the pandemic. The government

Reading Time: 2 minutes MILAN, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Italy’s Lombardy region and the central government exchanged blame on Saturday over the release of COVID-19 data that wrongly condemned the region to stricter restrictions. Lombardy, the country’s wealthiest and most productive area which includes the fashion capital Milan, was forced to close most

Reading Time: 2 minutes A steady drip-feed of public officials admitting to having been vaccinated ahead of priority groups has sparked uproar on social media in Spain at a time when several regions are tightening restrictions in an effort to curb a spike in infections. Several local mayors admitted to getting vaccinated before their turn, while the

Reading Time: 2 minutes President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that COVID-19 vaccinations will begin in the coming weeks in Iran, the Middle East’s worst hit country. “Foreign vaccines are a necessity until local vaccines are available,” Rouhani said in televised remarks, without giving details of what foreign vaccines would be used. Earlier this