Pfizer and BioNTech say they've won permission Wednesday for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in Britain, the world's first coronavirus shot that's backed by rigorous science -- and a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic.

Japan will give free coronavirus vaccines to all of its residents under a bill passed Wednesday, as the nation battles record numbers of daily cases.

France is aiming to launch a widespread Covid-19 vaccination campaign between April and June next year, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.

Mohammed Mostafa al-Mohammed started studying medicine in rebel-held northern Syria to help the victims of war, but instead he has graduated into a world battling the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The World Tourism Organization called Monday for the standardization of traveler health checks and the establishment of air corridors to ease international travel during the pandemic. 

The World Health Organization insisted Monday it would do everything possible to find the animal origins of Covid-19, insisting that knowledge was vital to preventing future outbreaks.

Mexico is in "bad shape" and needs to get serious in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general said on Monday. 

US firm Moderna said it would file requests for authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Europe on Monday, after full results confirmed a high efficacy estimated at 94.1 percent.

Progress in eliminating malaria has stalled in recent years, the World Health Organization said Monday, with more than 400,000 people once again estimated to have died from the disease last year.

France's highest administrative court on Sunday ordered the government to loosen coronavirus rules allowing no more than 30 people at religious services, in the face of angry objections from church leaders.