Britain on Wednesday introduced restrictions on travel from South Africa over the spread of another new variant of coronavirus, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said.

Egypt has called off all New Year's celebrations in order to stem rising coronavirus cases in the country, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said Wednesday.

Dubai launched its Covid-19 vaccination program Wednesday with a senior citizen and a nurse among the first to be inoculated using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the government said.

Sydney on Wednesday eased lockdown restrictions for Christmas after Australia's largest city reported a second day of new coronavirus cases in the single digits.

Amid a record testing and tracing effort, just eight new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, prompting authorities to announce all residents could have at least some visitors over to celebrate the festive period.

Europe on Wednesday began lifting travel bans on Britain put in place  to contain a new fast-spreading Covid strain while WHO experts were set to meet on a response to it.

Mexico will begin Covid-19 immunizations on Thursday, a day after the country receives its first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez-Gatell said.

The World Health Organization in Europe said Tuesday it would convene its members to discuss how to handle a new variant of the novel coronavirus discovered in the UK.

Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe said on Twitter that the organization was closely monitoring the spread of the new variant and would "convene member states to discuss strategies for testing, reducing transmission & communicating risks."

The U.S. Justice Department sued Walmart over its role in the opioid crisis on Tuesday, alleging the giant retailer wrongly filled prescriptions and worsened a public health disaster.

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.