While much of the world fears Covid-19, Iraqis have mostly stopped wearing facemasks as they worry more about the pandemic's economic impact than the virus itself.

Several European countries on Wednesday imposed tighter coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas, as the United States reported another record number of new infections.

The United States and the European Union on Tuesday pushed forward approval of two leading Covid-19 candidate vaccines, as fears grew of a fresh wave of infections over Christmas.

The first doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine are due to arrive in Canada before the end of December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that he will receive a coronavirus vaccination publicly and that top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has recommended it be "sooner than later."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized the country's first rapid at-home test for Covid-19, which is available over-the-counter and produces a result in around 20 minutes. 

Jordan announced late Monday that it had approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, as the United States kicked off a mass vaccination drive.

With Americans, Britons and Canadians rolling up their sleeves to receive coronavirus vaccines, the route out of the pandemic now seems clear to many in the West, even if the rollout will take many months. But for poorer countries, the road will be far longer and rougher.

The ambitious initiative known as COVAX created to ensure the entire world has access to COVID-19 vaccines has secured only a fraction of the 2 billion doses it hopes to buy over the next year, has yet to confirm any actual deals to ship out vaccines and is short on cash.

Germany's health minister further increased the pressure on the European Union's regulatory agency, demanding that it approve a coronavirus vaccine before Christmas, the dpa news agency reported Tuesday.

"Our goal is an approval before Christmas so that we can still start vaccinating this year," Health Minister Jens Spahn said late Monday.

The British capital faces tougher Covid-19 measures within days, the UK government said on Monday, with a new coronavirus variant emerging as a possible cause for rapidly rising infection rates.