Here's the latest on the pandemic from around the world.
Europe
Britain
Britain reported 94,326 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 439 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test, official data showed.
The figures compared to 88,447 cases and 56 deaths reported on Monday.
The number of deaths is the highest recorded since Feb. 24 last year. The figure are often higher on a Tuesday when most deaths at the weekend are included in the tally. Last Tuesday, 438 deaths were reported.
Overall case numbers, deaths and hospital admissions have been slowly falling from a peak after Christmas.
Italy
Italy reported 186,740 COVID-19 related cases on Tuesday, against 77,696 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths rose to 468 from 352.
Italy has registered 144,343 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 10.2 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 20,027 on Tuesday, increasing from 19,862 a day earlier.
There were 130 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 101 on Monday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,694 from 1,685 the day before.
Some 1.4 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 519,293, the health ministry said.
Netherlands
The Dutch government will further ease COVID-19 restrictions despite record numbers of coronavirus infections, with restaurants, bars and theatres allowed to re-open starting Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday.
The Dutch government followed advice from its panel of health experts who on Monday said it was supporting the limited reopening of bars, restaurants and theatres that have been closed since mid-December.
Poland
Older primary school students and high school students in Poland are to move to remote learning, Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek said on Tuesday, as the Omicron coronavirus variant takes hold across the country.
Pupils will learn remotely from Thursday until the end of the winter holidays at the end of February.
"All this is dictated by the rising cases of coronavirus ... in practice, this means two weeks of remote learning," Czarnek told reporters.
Poland reported 36,995 new daily COVID-19 infections on Tuesday. On Saturday the country recorded 40,876 cases, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.
Germany
Germany expects to receive 3.8 million doses of Novavax's newly approved COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid by March 20, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as the government looks to persuade unvaccinated Germans to get a shot.
Germany will receive 1.4 million doses in the week of Feb. 21 and should receive the rest of the 3.8 million doses in the subsequent few weeks.
Novavax is expected to deliver 34 million doses to Germany this year. The shipment is a part of the U.S. drugmaker's deal to supply up to 200 million doses to the European Union's 27 member states.
Novavax's protein-based vaccine, which was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December, uses alternative technology to the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, , Moderna, AstraZeneca and J&J.
This could convince reluctant Germans, sceptical about the novel mRNA technology and its long-term effects, to take Novavax's more traditional vaccine and boost Germany's vaccination rate, which is lower than other western European countries.
Russia
Russia reported a record number of COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours on Tuesday as the Omicron variant of the virus spread across the country, the government coronavirus task force said.
New daily cases jumped to 67,809, from 65,109 a day earlier. The task force also reported 681 deaths.
Bulgaria
Bulgarian Finance Minister Assen Vassilev tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday amid an Omicron variant-driven rise in new infections in the Balkan country, the finance ministry said.
Vassilev will continue to work remotely on preparation of the country's 2022 budget bill, the ministry said in a statement.
Bulgaria, the European Union's least-vaccinated country, reported over 11,000 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, including 132 deaths. Health officials estimate the fifth wave of the pandemic will peak next month.
Spain
Spanish police said on Tuesday they had detained seven suspected members of an international criminal gang that created and sold forged COVID-19 passports and negative tests.
The Spanish arm of the ring, which advertised its services on "anti-vax" instant message groups, fraudulently added at least 1,600 people to the national vaccination register with the help of health workers, the investigation found.
European Union countries agreed last year to create a standardized COVID certificate with a QR code so vaccinated and tested people could travel and attend events.
That created a demand for forgeries.
Police arrested six people in Madrid and one in Barcelona but did not provide further information on them.
They will be charged with document forgery and offences against public health. "The investigation continues into the possible theft of passwords to (the register)," the national police added in a statement.
The gang divided customers into two groups based on income and charged either 200 euros ($225) or 1,000 euros for a fake COVID vaccination certificate, which would be sent within two days of payment. A negative PCR test cost 50 euros.
Police are now investigating the 1,600 people added to the register fraudulently.
Denmark
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is expected to announce on Wednesday the removal of all COVID-19 restrictions by the end of this month, daily Jyllands-Posten reported on Tuesday citing several sources.
Denmark loosened restrictions two weeks ago after a month-long lockdown, allowing cinemas and music venues to reopen, but some rules remain, including limited opening hours for restaurants and mandatory face masks.
JP reported that the shift is based on recommendations from an expert panel that also recommends removing the classification of COVID-19 as a disease that is a critical threat to society, which has allowed the current restrictions.
The newspaper said Frederiksen was due to give a media briefing on Wednesday evening to make the announcement. Her office declined to comment on the report.
The Nordic country registered 40,348 new cases on Monday, down from a peak of 47,831 on Friday. The number of coronavirus-related hospitalisations rose to 894, the highest in a year.
But health authorities said it estimated between 30 percent-40 percent of those currently in hospital with a positive coronavirus test are there for other reasons than COVID-19.
Asia-Pacific
Japan
Japan expanded regions subject to tighter coronavirus curbs to cover 70 percent of the country on Tuesday, as the government tried to counter a record wave of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
The measures, already in force in 16 prefectures, will take effect in a further 18 including the western prefectures of Kyoto and Osaka and remain in place until the middle of next month.
Nationwide cases rose above 60,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, a tally by broadcaster Fuji TV showed on Tuesday, with the capital, Tokyo, posting 12,813 new cases while the region of Osaka reported 8,612, both records.
Economy minister Daishiro Yamagiwa told reporters the central government agreed to impose tougher counter-measures in 18 more regions in response to an increase of infections and hospital admissions driven by Omicron. A panel of health experts signed off on the plan earlier in the day.
The curbs will run from Thursday until Feb. 20, empowering regional governors to ask restaurants and bars to shorten their business hours and to stop serving alcohol.
The stricter measures come as the government is shifting its approach to handling the soaring number of cases.
Australia
Australia on Tuesday recorded one of its highest number of deaths in a day from COVID-19 as an outbreak of the highly-infections Omicron variant tore through the country which marked two years since its first infection of the coronavirus.
Though Australia's states and territories are refraining from a return to the lockdowns which have defined the country's pandemic response, the most populous state, New South Wales, extended a mask mandate by a month, an example of the continuous disruption brought by the virus.
The same state, which came out of more than three months of hard lockdown in October, had vowed never to return to social distancing measures since its population had met a target of more than 90 percent vaccinated. Omicron has since seen the country's COVID-19 death and infection rates double in weeks.
The country recorded 75 deaths the previous day, short of its highest daily total of 80 the week before but among its worst of the pandemic. Most of the deaths were in NSW and neighbouring Victoria, home to the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and two-thirds of the Australian population.
Still, the authorities said the Omicron flare-up appeared to have peaked. Daily case numbers were up on the previous day, but hospitalisations appear to have steadied as more Australians receive their booster, they said.
The state of South Australia recorded five deaths but its lowest number of daily infections since the start of the year and "we're absolutely delighted with that figure", premier Steven Marshall told reporters.
"We are tracking extraordinarily well."
South Korea
South Korea's daily new coronavirus infections topped 8,000 for the first time on Tuesday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant spreads rapidly, despite the extension of tough social distancing rules.
The figure of 8,571 on Monday exceeded the previous peak of 7,848 in December, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said, as Omicron became dominant in the country last week, though it is less deadly than previous variants.
Small business owners with shaven heads held a protest urging the government to lift the curbs, which include a 9 p.m. curfew for diners, as they sought compensation for losses.
"I haven't been able to pay monthly rent, so I'm facing an eviction suit and had to fire employees," said Yang Hee-kyoung, one of the group of 300 protesters.
"I have no life," added Yang, who runs a bar in the southern city of Busan.
Other demonstrators were tearful as they stood before a banner that sought "realistic compensation" for COVID-19 losses.
South Korea's tough regimen of vaccine passes limits unvaccinated people to dining out alone, or making use of takeout or delivery services.
South Korea, with a population of 52 million, has a tally of 749,979 infections and a death toll of 6,588, in what has largely been a COVID-19 mitigation success story.
More than 95 percent of adults are fully vaccinated with nearly 58 percent having received a booster dose, KDCA data showed.
Americas
United States
The Department of Labor said on Tuesday it will withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine-and-testing requirement for large U.S. employers after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the rule, ending a controversial bid to increase vaccination rates.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said in the federal register that while it was withdrawing the emergency temporary standard, the rule would remain as a proposal for a permanent requirement.
"OSHA continues to strongly encourage the vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace," the notice said.
COVID-19 has killed more than 850,000 in the United States and the outbreak continues to weigh on the country's economy.
President Joe Biden unveiled in September several regulations aimed at increasing the U.S. adult vaccination rate, which currently stands at about 74 percent, according to government data, among the lowest for developed nations.
The rules sparked legal challenges by conservative organizations, Republicans and some business groups.
The OSHA mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees was blocked by the Supreme Court earlier this month, although at the same time the court allowed a separate federal vaccine requirement for workers in healthcare facilities.
A third major vaccine rule from the Biden administration required federal government contractors to get their employees vaccinated. That was blocked by a federal judge in December and last week a U.S. judge blocked a vaccine requirement for federal employees.
While courts have generally found the administration lacked the authority to require vaccination, mandates imposed by businesses, states and local governments have been upheld.
Middle East and Africa
Israel
Experts at Israel's Health Ministry have recommended offering a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to all adults, on condition that at least five months have passed since they got the third or since they recovered from the illness, the ministry said on Tuesday.
Reuters
