German Chancellor Angela Merkel told party colleagues the potential threat from faster-spreading variants means the country is “sitting on a powder keg,” according to Bild newspaper. Ireland is set to extend its lockdown even amid signs the outbreak there is easing. New Zealand is likely to keep its border closed to the world through most of 2021, and the U.K. government is expected to announce plans for quarantining travelers. Thailand found a record number of cases in a migrant labor cluster near Bangkok.
Vaccine coverage won’t reach a point that would stop transmission of the virus in the foreseeable future, the World Health Organization said. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world risks more virus variations by not pushing for vaccines in developing nations.
Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases exceed 99.7 million; deaths pass 2.1 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 68.1 million shots given worldwide
- Europe’s vaccine struggle plays out on front line with Russia
- U.S. states ease Covid restrictions even as variants take hold
- Trailing the first vaccines, next generation turns to variants
- AstraZeneca fails to soothe EU ire over vaccine-delivery delays
- Why delaying the second Covid vaccine shot is messy: QuickTake