 | | | | The COVAX global vaccine-sharing programme has delivered 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, one of the organisations which manages it said on Saturday. | | | | | | Iran's health ministry reported the country's first three deaths from the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday. | | | | | | Peru's Health Minister Hernando Cevallos has called on COVID-19 vaccine companies to extend expiration dates past the current three months to reduce the risk of losing doses. | | | | | | Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Saturday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would self-isolate but continue working from home. | | | | | | Italy reported 180,426 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday, after 186,253 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 308 from 360. | | | | | | Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month. | | | | | | Consumer goods giant Unilever has approached GlaxoSmithKline about buying the pharmaceutical group's consumer goods arm, after a newspaper reported that a 50 billion-pound ($68.4 billion) bid it made had been rebuffed. | | | | | | Indonesia reported 1,054 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the highest daily increase in three months, as the government braces for a new wave of coronavirus infections driven by the spread of the Omicron variant. | | | | | | The Philippine health ministry confirmed the local spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant around Manila on Saturday, as infections hit a record high for a third straight day. | | | | | | Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa reported record daily numbers of COVID-19 cases on Saturday, fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. | | | | | |
