A leading Covid-19 vaccine candidate has shown to safely produce a robust immune response in healthy older adults, its British makers said Thursday as it released its phase 2 trial results.

The African continent has surpassed 2 million confirmed cases as health officials warn of infections starting to creep up again into a second surge.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the continent had crossed that milestone. Its numbers show the 54-country continent also has seen more than 48,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Japan is on "maximum alert" after logging a record number of daily coronavirus infections, the prime minister said Thursday, though no immediate restrictions are planned.

US coronavirus deaths passed a quarter of a million people Wednesday as New York announced it would close schools to battle a rise in infections and anti-restriction protests in Europe turned violent.

Nurses hover over a patient to insert a breathing tube as his condition suddenly deteriorates. ICU beds fill up almost overnight. As one patient dies of the coronavirus and is wheeled out, another is whisked in to take his place. An exhausted doctor leans against a wheelchair for a breather.

The pace is dizzying at the largest isolation hospital in Syria's northwestern city of Idlib. There are no bombs falling outside and the wounded don't crowd bloodstained corridors amid a shaky cease-fire in the country's decade old civil war. Still, the intensive care unit staff is overwhelmed with beds full of elderly patients gasping for air.

Iran will impose "severe restrictions" across many areas of the country on Saturday in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said.

Faced with a dysfunctional health system and the resignations of three local leaders in quick succession, Italy has turned to a charity more accustomed to warzones to help tackle coronavirus in its poorest region.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday defended his government's coronavirus response, following claims of rampant cronyism and watchdog criticism that its awarding of lucrative supply contracts lacked transparency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday voiced concern over the country's rising coronavirus fatality rate but said the outbreak was under control.

The biotech company Pfizer said Wednesday that a completed study of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine showed it is 95 percent effective.