Jordan has reimposed an all-day curfew on Fridays to stem the spread of coronavirus as cases rise, officials said Wednesday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that it has authorized 20 private companies to import Covid-19 vaccines into the country.

In a phone call with LBCI TV, a Ministry official said the local companies “have so far faced rejection from the companies that manufacture the vaccines.”

The single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe Covid-19, including newer variants, according to documents released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday.

The news came as the regulator was set to convene an independent panel Friday that will likely vote to authorize the vaccine, making it the third available in the country hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

Exempting Covid-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights will not speed up production or distribution of the jabs, a pharmaceutical industry association said Tuesday.

An emotional President Joe Biden called the milestone of more than 500,000 U.S. deaths from Covid-19 "heartbreaking" on Monday and urged the country to unite against the pandemic.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday set out a four-step plan to ease coronavirus restrictions, expressing hope that life could get back to normal by the end of June.

U.S. President Joe Biden will lead a remembrance ceremony Monday to mark the dark milestone of 500,000 American Covid-19 deaths, but plans for easing the lockdown in Britain and a surge in vaccinations worldwide prompted growing optimism.

With the U.S. death toll on the brink of hitting half a million -- the highest impact on any country -- Biden ordered flags on federal government buildings to be flown at half mast for five days.

The United States stood on the brink Sunday of recording 500,000 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, while nations globally pressed on with vaccination rollouts, including with Australia giving its first shots.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set Monday to start unwinding England's third and -- he hopes -- final coronavirus lockdown, as a quickening UK-wide inoculation drive relieves pressure on hard-hit hospitals.

Coronavirus cases in Italy are on the rise again, in large part due to the more infectious British variant, a top virologist warned in a newspaper interview published Sunday.