An EU regulator considering the rapid approval of coronavirus vaccines said Wednesday it had been the target of a cyberattack, as Germany and other northern hemisphere countries grappled with a winter surge in the pandemic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would start Covid-19 vaccinations from December 27, after receiving its first batch of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

U.K. regulators said Wednesday that people who have a "significant history'' of allergic reactions shouldn't receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine while they investigate two adverse reactions that occurred on the first day of the country's mass vaccination program.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the National Health Service in England, said health authorities were acting on a recommendation from the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Non-communicable diseases accounted for seven of the top 10 causes of death before the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with heart disease killing more people than ever before.

The WHO's Global Health Estimates report found that people were living longer lives in 2019 than in 2000 -- but those extra years were not necessarily lived in good health.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday demanded tougher curbs to bring down coronavirus infections, as the German death toll reached a grim daily record of nearly 600 people.

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday officially registered the coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese drug giant Sinopharm, saying it was 86 percent effective according to analysis of third-phase trials.

The health ministry "has announced the official registration" of the vaccine, state news agency WAM said, without elaborating on how it would now be used. 

China has tested more than a quarter of a million people for the coronavirus after a handful of new cases were detected in the southern city of Chengdu.

Daniel Auminto lost his job and then his home when the coronavirus pandemic sent the Philippines into lockdown. Now he and his family live on the street, relying on food handouts to survive.  

President-elect Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that coronavirus vaccination efforts in the United States will "slow and stall" if Congress does not urgently come up with funding.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said Tuesday he understands concerns around the speed at which pharmaceutical companies have produced Covid-19 vaccines, but insisted that no corners had been cut.