Here's the latest on the pandemic from around the world.
Europe
Italy
Human rights group Amnesty International urged Italy to change tough anti-COVID restrictions to avoid discrimination against unvaccinated people.
In a recent decree Mario Draghi's government made vaccination mandatory for everyone over the age of 50 and for use of public transport and a range of other services, one of very few countries to take similar steps, in an attempt to ease pressure on Italian health services and reduce fatalities. read more
Amnesty International asked for the provision of alternative measures, including the use of masks and COVID-19 testing, to allow the unvaccinated population to continue to go to work and to use public transport "without discrimination", the group said in a statement issued late on Saturday.
Under current rules, which will run until June 15, wearing a mask and having a negative COVID-19 test is not sufficient to access public transportation or, for people over the age of 50, to their workplaces.
Britain
Britain reported 84,429 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 85 deaths within 28-days of a positive test.
That compares with 75,031 news cases and 91 deaths on Sunday. The figures initially reported for Sunday were lower as data from Scotland was not included due to a technical issue but the government said the missing data had now been retrospectively added.
France
The number of people with COVID-19 in French hospitals rose by 888 to 25,775, the health ministry said on Monday, the biggest one-day increase since early November 2020 - before the start of the country's vaccination campaign.
The last time the number of COVID patients was over 25,000 was on Dec. 17, 2020.
Health ministry data on Monday also showed that the number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care units rose by 61 to 3,913, after being flat to stable for four days.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria said on Monday it would require travellers from neighbouring North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey as well as Israel to have a negative PCR coronavirus test prior to entry along with a valid COVID certificate, starting Thursday.
The measures announced by the Health Ministry, aimed at limiting the spread of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, already apply to all European Union member states except for Bulgaria's northern neighbour Romania.
The Balkan country, which is bracing for a surge in new infections, recorded its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic last week.
Poland
Poland is in the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health minister said on Monday, adding that he expected the country to report over 20,000 daily cases on Tuesday and a peak of 60,000 in mid-February.
"In today's results, which we will report in full tomorrow, there is a risk that the barrier of 20,000 infections will be broken," Adam Niedzielski told a news conference.
Asia-Pacific
India
India's capital Delhi and financial hub Mumbai have reported a big fall in COVID-19 infections in the past two days and most of those who contracted the virus have recovered at home, authorities said on Monday.
Mumbai's daily new infections fell below 10,000 on Sunday for the first time since early this month, after touching an all-time high of 20,971 on Jan. 7. It reported 7,895 infections late on Sunday, Mumbai's municipal corporation said.
Delhi's cases have fallen consistently since hitting a peak of 28,867 on Jan. 13 and is expected to be fewer than 15,000 on Monday, for the first time since early January, the city government's health minister told reporters.
Both cities have said more than 80 percent of their COVID-19 hospital beds have remained unoccupied since the fast-transmitting Omicron variant led to a massive surge in cases from the start of the year.
"With very large numbers of sub-clinical, asymptomatic and undetected cases, it is difficult to pinpoint a peak by new cases," Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said in an email.
"In this situation, monitoring hospitalisation is more prudent; today's case can be next week's hospitalisation."
Other epidemiologists say a national peak in cases could come by early- or mid-February.
Japan
The governors of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures agreed on Monday to request further measures from the central government, including shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, to help counter rising COVID-19 infections.
The highly infectious Omicron variant is driving a resurgence in coronavirus cases, which are hovering near record levels, after new infections exceeded 25,000 nationwide in the past two days.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told an online meeting of governors that the occupancy rate of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients was estimated to have reached 20 percent on Monday, a key threshold for requesting additional steps.
The measures being considered by the government will cover nine prefectures in addition to Tokyo, broadcaster FNN reported earlier.
The move would follow restrictions imposed this month in three regions hosting US military facilities, after it appeared that base outbreaks of Omicron spilled into surrounding communities.
Australia
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday the shortages of at-home antigen tests were "not unique" to the country as authorities deal with a runaway Omicron outbreak that has driven up hospitalisation rates and strains testing systems.
Australia is facing a shortage of at-home rapid antigen test kits after asymptomatic close contacts were told to bypass government-funded testing hubs, where high volumes delayed results by several days, and take their own tests.
"The rapid antigen tests are in short supply all around the world. This is not something that is unique to Australia going through it," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday. "It's part of dealing with Omicron. Omicron has disrupted everything."
The country's competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), on Monday flagged "significant concerns" about reports of price gouging of testing kits amid reports of stockpiling and called inflated prices "clearly outrageous".
ACCC Chair Rod Sims said there were reports of kits costing even up to A$500 ($361) at online retailers, and A$70 per test at stores when they were available for around A$10 at pharmacies weeks ago.
Pakistan
Pakistani health authorities on Monday announced the completion of a successful clinical trial of Chinese traditional herbal medicine for treating COVID-19, as the South Asian nation enters a fifth wave of the pandemic driven by the Omicron variant.
The Chinese medicine, Jinhua Qinggan Granules (JHQG) manufactured by Juxiechang (Beijing) pharmaceutical Co Ltd, is already being used in treatment of COVID-19 patients in China.
"Since it was tried on patients with different variants of COVID-19, we expect it to be effective on Omicron as on other variants," Professor Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Science (ICCBS) where trials were conducted, told reporters.
The trials were conducted on 300 patients who were treated at home, and would work on mild to moderate COVID-19 cases, Dr Raza Shah, principal investigator in the trials, told reporters, adding that the efficacy rate was around 82.67 percent.
The trials were approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan.
Pakistan reported 4,340 COVID-19 cases on Monday, the highest recorded in a 24-hour period in three months. Karachi, the country's largest city, recorded a positivity rate - the percentage of tests coming back positive - of 39.39 percent at the weekend, the highest so far.
Americas
Brazil
Brazil had 48,520 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 175 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The South American country has now registered 22,975,723 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 659,934, according to ministry data.
US
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday revised its guidance for Americans on wearing masks to protect against COVID-19, recommending donning "the most protective mask you can" while stopping short of advocating nationwide usage of N95 respirators.
The CDC, an agency critics have accused of offering shifting and confusing guidance amid the pandemic, clarified on its website "that people can choose respirators such as N95s and KN95s, including removing concerns related to supply shortages for N95s."
Americans should "wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently," the CDC added.
The United States leads the world in COVID-19 deaths - roughly 850,000 - even as it battles a surge of cases involving the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant. Complicating matters is the refusal of some Americans to get vaccinated.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the federal government plans to make "high-quality masks" available to Americans for free. In another step, the White House on Friday said the government will begin shipping 500 million COVID-19 tests to Americans later this month without charge.
Middle East and Africa
Israel
Israel's Health Ministry said on Monday it would shorten the mandatory isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19 to five days from seven days, following an initial cut last week, provided they are asymptomatic.
Until last week, the isolation period was 10 days.
The latest decision, which takes effect on Wednesday, brings Israel in line with recommendations in the United States.
A negative home antigen test is also required before ending isolation, the ministry said.
Reuters