
A cemetery in the German city of Hanau has started to temporarily store the bodies of people who have died from COVID-19 in a metal shipping container because hospital mortuaries are already full.

Ireland, which has the second-lowest COVID-19 infection rate in Western Europe, is set for a serious increase in cases following the relaxation of restrictions, its health minister said on Thursday, as officials called for new curbs.

UNICEF has launched a domestic emergency response in the UK for the first time in its more than 70-year history to help feed children amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK Government will supply the Overseas Territories with a proportionate share of the vaccines that the UK procures, and together with the UK Vaccine Taskforce are coordinating plans to deploy vaccines to the BOTs.

Uruguay announced it will regulate the constitutional right to assembly when a sanitary emergency, lockdown access to the country from 21 December to 10 January, limit the number of passengers in long range transport, and have government staff take their annual vacation and those remaining, unless essential personnel, will work from their homes.

The Chilean health regulator has approved for emergency use the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, paving the way for the first doses to be administered as early as Christmas to citizens over the age of 16.

Argentina and the UK hosted a virtual seminar on access to vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean addressing the portfolio of emerging vaccines against COVID-19, the challenge of equitable distribution and how best to tackle vaccine disinformation.

At least a fifth of the world's population may not have access to a COVID-19 vaccine until 2022, according to a study published on Wednesday, with wealthier nations reserving more than half of 2021's potential doses.

A quarter of Mexico's population, or 31 million people, has been exposed to COVID-19, according to preliminary results of an official survey, with 70% never showing symptoms.

Chancellor Angela Merkel banged the podium in frustration as she implored Germans this month to reduce social contacts to curb the spread of COVID-19. At one point in her unusually passionate address to parliament, during which she was heckled, she brought her hands together as if in prayer. At others, she shook her fist.