Exempting Covid-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights will not speed up production or distribution of the jabs, a pharmaceutical industry association said Tuesday.

An emotional President Joe Biden called the milestone of more than 500,000 U.S. deaths from Covid-19 "heartbreaking" on Monday and urged the country to unite against the pandemic.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday set out a four-step plan to ease coronavirus restrictions, expressing hope that life could get back to normal by the end of June.

U.S. President Joe Biden will lead a remembrance ceremony Monday to mark the dark milestone of 500,000 American Covid-19 deaths, but plans for easing the lockdown in Britain and a surge in vaccinations worldwide prompted growing optimism.

With the U.S. death toll on the brink of hitting half a million -- the highest impact on any country -- Biden ordered flags on federal government buildings to be flown at half mast for five days.

The United States stood on the brink Sunday of recording 500,000 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, while nations globally pressed on with vaccination rollouts, including with Australia giving its first shots.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set Monday to start unwinding England's third and -- he hopes -- final coronavirus lockdown, as a quickening UK-wide inoculation drive relieves pressure on hard-hit hospitals.

Coronavirus cases in Italy are on the rise again, in large part due to the more infectious British variant, a top virologist warned in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

Four people have died from the hemorrhagic Ebola virus during a new outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Sunday, warning that people are resisting measures to contain the highly contagious disease.

Around 20,000 coronavirus vaccine doses from the UAE arrived in Gaza Sunday, a delivery reportedly orchestrated by a rival of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas three months before scheduled Palestinian elections.

Israel took a step towards normalcy Sunday, re-opening a raft of businesses and services following its third national lockdown, with some sites only available to those who have been vaccinated.