* Malaysia received 268,800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Friday night, its first batch from the pharmaceutical company, state news agency reported on Saturday. Health Minister Adham Baba said the batch was purchased through the COVAX facility.
* The Republic of Korea said on Saturday it signed a contract with Pfizer Inc to purchase an additional 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine amid fears of spiking infections at home. That brings the current amount of Pfizer vaccines to 66 million doses, it said in a statement.
* Russia reported 8,828 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, including 2,541 in Moscow, which took the national tally to 4,753,789 since the start of the pandemic. The coronavirus crisis centre said 399 more deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 107,900.
* The US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined the recommended pause regarding the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the US should be lifted and use of the vaccine should resume, the FDA said on Friday.
* Brazil recorded 2,914 new COVID-19 deaths, and 69,105 new cases of coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Friday. More than 386,000 people have died from the virus in Brazil, with 14.24 million confirmed cases of infection, Health Ministry data show.
* Millions of doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine manufactured at a US plant that had a contamination issue and then shipped to Mexico are safe and have been approved by two regulators, Mexico's deputy health minister said on Friday.
* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Joe Biden agreed in a phone call to improve cooperation between the two NATO allies, the Turkish presidency said on Friday.
* Western Australia state recorded one new locally acquired coronavirus case on Saturday, as more than 2 million people in the state began a three-day snap lockdown after a COVID-19 outbreak in a hotel quarantine led to community transmission.
* Iran said on Saturday that it would bar travellers from India over a COVID-19 variant to avert its spread in the already stricken country.
* French health authorities reported that 5,962 people were in intensive care units with COVID-19 on Friday, 19 fewer than a day earlier, but the figure remains at a very high level as the country prepares to exit its third lockdown. The total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 fell for a fourth consecutive day, by 196 to 30,438.
* Mexico's health ministry on Friday reported 3,911 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and 409 more fatalities, bringing its total to 2,323,430 infections and 214,504 deaths.
* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 23,392 to 3,268,645, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The reported death toll rose by 286 to 81,444, the tally showed.
* Turkey logged 49,438 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed on Friday, down from a record of more than 63,000 cases reported last week. The data also showed 343 people died due to COVID-19 in the same period, down from a record-high 362 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 37,672.
* Serbia and the International Monetary Fund have agreed a new non-financial and advisory deal tailored to help Belgrade maintain growth during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the lender said in a statement on Friday. Serbia's economy contracted 1.1% last year, less than its regional peers, mainly due to a substantial policy response to the pandemic, the IMF said.
* At least eight people died and 384 were rescued after a glacier broke triggering an avalanche close to the Indo-China border in the Indian state of Uttarakhand on Friday, a government official said.
