South Africa, the country worst-hit by the coronavirus on the continent, has registered more than 10,000 daily cases as infections surge at an exponential rate, the health minister said.

American experts were set to discuss Thursday if Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine should be authorized, as European nations vowed to get their coronavirus inoculation campaigns rolling before the end of the year.

Surges in infections have prompted tighter restrictions in several European countries, while the United States -- the worst-hit nation in the world -- set a double record, with more than 3,700 deaths and 250,000 new cases in 24 hours on Wednesday.

Despite a sharper tone from authorities and new restrictions, Sweden, which has famously relied on non-coercive measures, is struggling to contain a strong second wave of Covid-19 it thought it could avoid.

The capital Stockholm is once again at the epicentre of the epidemic and this week called on members of the public with medical training to help offset some of the burden on healthcare. 

Israel will begin rolling out a major coronavirus vaccination campaign next week after the prime minister reached out personally to the head of a major drug company. Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli control will have to wait much longer.

Worldwide, rich nations are snatching up scarce supplies of new vaccines as poor countries largely rely on a World Health Organization program that has yet to get off the ground. There are few places where the competition is playing out in closer proximity than in Israel and the territories it has occupied for more than half a century.

A health worker in Alaska suffered a serious allergic reaction after getting Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine and is now hospitalized but stable, a report said Wednesday.

While much of the world fears Covid-19, Iraqis have mostly stopped wearing facemasks as they worry more about the pandemic's economic impact than the virus itself.

Several European countries on Wednesday imposed tighter coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas, as the United States reported another record number of new infections.

The United States and the European Union on Tuesday pushed forward approval of two leading Covid-19 candidate vaccines, as fears grew of a fresh wave of infections over Christmas.

The first doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine are due to arrive in Canada before the end of December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that he will receive a coronavirus vaccination publicly and that top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has recommended it be "sooner than later."