France confirms first case on its soil of British virus variant

France has confirmed the first case of a new coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain, its health ministry said.

Russia tops 3 million COVID-19 infections

Russia on Saturday passed three million confirmed coronavirus infections, as authorities hold out against reimposing a national lockdown while the country is battered by a second wave.

EU readies vaccine rollout as new virus strain spreads

The European Union teed up a vaccine rollout Saturday, even as countries in the bloc were forced back into lockdown by a new strain of the virus, believed to be more infectious, that has spread from Britain to France and Spain and even as far as Japan.

First COVID vaccine doses arrive in France

France's first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine were delivered early Saturday to the Paris hospital system's central pharmacy outside the capital, an AFP journalist saw.

Spain receives first COVID vaccine doses

Spain received its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Saturday, a day before the country is set to begin its immunisation campaign.

First confirmed cases in Spain of British virus variant: regional govt

Four cases of a coronavirus variant believed to be particularly infectious that recently emerged in Britain have been confirmed in Madrid, the regional government said Saturday, the first cases detected in Spain.

Breakfast, freezers, Lego: on the vaccine trail in Germany

It was over breakfast on the wintry morning of January 24 that Ozlem Tureci and her husband Ugur Sahin decided, "we need to fire the starting gun on this".

After early success, S. Korea sleepwalks into virus crisis

South Korea had seemed to be winning the fight against the coronavirus: Quickly ramping up its testing, contact-tracing and quarantine efforts paid off when it weathered an early outbreak without the economic pain of a lockdown. But a deadly resurgence has reached new heights during Christmas week, prompting soul-searching on how the nation sleepwalked into a crisis.