A record 600,000 doses of Covid vaccine were administered in Italy on Friday, authorities said, putting the country in second place in Europe for the number of people fully vaccinated.

The pandemic slowed for the fifth week in a row around the world, especially in Europe and Asia, including in India, which nevertheless continued to bear the brunt.

A stroll in Pablo Picasso's footsteps in Montmartre; breathing in the scents of Provence; a walk along D-Day beaches: These and all of France's other attractions will again become easily accessible from next week to most foreign tourists -- if they are vaccinated.

France is putting itself back on the menu as a destination for international visitors who have had COVID-19 jabs. The government announced Friday that it is removing the need for coronavirus tests for vaccinated Europeans. It also is allowing vaccinated tourists from most of the rest of the world, including the United States, much of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North and central America to come back, if they have a negative test.

Hundreds gathered Thursday for the first concert in the Saudi capital since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to watch performances by Syrian diva Assala Nasri and Kuwaiti crooner Nabeel Shuail.

Before stiff rules were brought in a year ago to stem the spread of coronavirus, the ultra-conservative kingdom had started to ease decades-long restrictions on entertainment, as part of efforts to improve its image and attract tourists.

More than two billion Covid-19 vaccines have been given across the world, according to an AFP tally Thursday drawn from official sources.

Chinese authorities imposed fresh travel limits, cancelled flights and tested thousands of residents in Guangdong Monday after the Indian variant of the coronavirus was reported in the country's most populous province.

More than a third of summer heat-related fatalities are due to climate change, researchers said Monday, warning of even higher death tolls as global temperatures climb.

Prevention is better than cure -- but when it comes to Covid, what happens when people can't get the vaccine, don't want it, or they're immune suppressed and it fails to stop infection?

Rasheeda Jaleel lives in fear that she may not be able to feed her seven children as millions of Indian families are forced into poverty by a devastating new coronavirus wave.

Lebanon vaccinated more than 10,000 people on Saturday as part of a day-long vaccine "marathon" organized by the health ministry to ramp up inoculation rates in the crisis-hit country.