China on Friday rejected the World Health Organization's calls for a renewed probe into the origins of Covid-19, saying it supported "scientific" over "political" efforts to find out how the virus started.

Pressure is once more mounting on Beijing to consider a fresh probe into the origins of a pandemic which has killed more than four million people and paralyzed economies worldwide since it first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Spain has become a leader of Europe's virus vaccination drive against Covid-19, due to a deep trust in the public health system and close-knit family ties that encourage people to get the jab to protect relatives.

More than 61 percent of Spain's population of 47 million is fully vaccinated, one of the highest rates among large European Union nations -- ahead of Italy's 57.8 percent, 56 percent in France and 55.2 percent in Germany. The figure in the United States is 50.3 percent.

China's coronavirus cases hit a seven-month high on Tuesday, after a cluster at a test site drove up numbers as the Delta variant challenges Beijing's grip on the pandemic.

State media has described the current outbreak -- which has sparked local lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions -- as the most severe since the virus emerged in the central city of Wuhan.

The U.S. State Department has advised Americans to avoid all travel to France over rising coronavirus cases in the country.

France is battling a fourth wave of the virus even though Covid-19 hospitalizations are still way off previous highs.

France on Monday began enforcing a Covid pass championed by President Emmanuel Macron in cafes, restaurants and trains, a tightening of rules the government hopes will boost vaccinations but which has prompted weeks of angry protests.

Tokyo reported another large jump in virus cases on Thursday, again shattering records, as the government expanded restrictions to eight more regions just days before the Olympics ends.

Tokyo is already under a virus state of emergency but is seeing an exponential growth in cases, driven by the more contagious Delta variant.

Covid infections in Iran surged again Wednesday, hitting a new one-day record for a third straight day and taking total cases to more than four million.

Iran registered 39,357 new cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday, taking the total since the pandemic started to 4,019,084, the health ministry said.

New York has announced the introduction of a de facto vaccine pass for some public spaces, as China's Wuhan said it would test all 11 million residents after the coronavirus returned to the place where it first emerged.

Meanwhile, half of the European Union's population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, an AFP tally showed on Tuesday, putting the bloc just ahead of the United States.

France's pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which has lagged behind rivals in developing new generation mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, on Tuesday said it has purchased a U.S. firm specializing in the technology.

Sanofi will buy Translate Bio, with which it has been working to develop an mRNA Covid jab, for $3.2 billion (2.7 billion euros), the company said in a statement.

Iran announced more than 39,000 new Covid cases on Tuesday, the highest in a single day in the Middle East country worst hit by the pandemic.

The health authorities in Iran said another 378 people died of coronavirus and 39,019 tested positive in the past 24 hours.