South African police have arrested more than 7,000 people caught without face masks in public since the end of December, the government said on Wednesday.

A Chinese province of more than 37 million declared an "emergency state" on Wednesday to snuff out a handful of Covid-19 cases, as the country moved decisively to contain infections.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University have applied for authorisation for their coronavirus vaccine in the EU with a decision possible by January 29, the European Medicines Agency said on Tuesday.

Moscow on Tuesday extended its suspension of flights with Britain, after officials said they had detected the new UK strain of the coronavirus in Russia.

Scientists at the World Health Organization warned that mass vaccinations would not bring about herd immunity to the coronavirus this year, even as one leading producer boosted its production forecast.

Russia announced Monday that 1.5 million people around the world had received its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as part of an initiative Kremlin critics have described as a geopolitical push.

Greece reopened thousands of primary schools and nurseries on Monday for the first time in two months, and prepared to launch a campaign to vaccinate the over-85s against coronavirus.

Ten World Health Organization scientists will visit China from Thursday to probe the origins of Covid-19, authorities said, more than a year after the pandemic began and amid accusations Beijing delayed the investigation.

The WHO team "will conduct joint research cooperation on the origins of covid 19 with Chinese scientists," the National Health Commission said in a statement.

Israel's health ministry said four people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus strain first detected in South Africa, with the new British variant already recorded.

The pope and Britain's Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus as Germany on Sunday reported 40,000 fatalities since the pandemic began a year ago.