Hugely promising results from a coronavirus vaccine trial fuelled optimism around the world Tuesday that humanity may be a step closer to defeating the worst pandemic in a century.

One of the teams racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine announced Monday its drug had shown 90 percent effectiveness, sending markets soaring and raising hopes of an end to the worst pandemic in a century.

Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators.

Monday's announcement doesn't mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries.

The global tally of people infected by the coronavirus shot past 50 million on Monday, as United States President-elect Joe Biden geared up to name the scientists who will lead the country's response to its disastrous outbreak.

President-elect Joe Biden has vowed immediate action to contain the United States' coronavirus crisis, signaling science would dominate the national response once Donald Trump leaves the White House.

Denmark and the United States are among six countries that have reported new coronavirus cases linked to mink farms, the World Health Organization said.

More than 120,000 coronavirus cases were reported in the US in the past 24 hours, smashing a daily record set the day before, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Swathes of Italy return to coronavirus lockdown Friday as the resurgent pandemic continued its march through Europe and reached record levels in the United States.

Denmark's prime minister announced special restrictions for more than 280,000 people in the northwest of the country on Thursday after a mutated version of the new coronavirus linked to mink farms was found in humans.

Copenhagen warned that the mutation could threaten the effectiveness of any future vaccine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe on Thursday said it was seeing an "explosion" of coronavirus cases in the region and warned of a "tough time" ahead as mortality rates rose.