* The recent COVID-19 cases in Anhui and Liaoning provinces have contracted the virus via individuals or articles from abroad, said the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) Thursday.
* Japan is likely to approve vaccines by both AstraZeneca and Moderna, with an official announcement expected from the country's health minister on Friday, public broadcaster NHK reported.
* The US Food and Drug Administration authorized storage of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at standard freezer temperatures for up to one month, in an effort to make the shot more widely available.
* No consensus was reached among the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday regarding a proposal for a temporary waiver of patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to speed up the global vaccine rollout.
* Britain launched a nationwide study to explore whether giving a third dose "booster" shot of vaccines would be safe and effective in extending immune protection against COVID-19.
* The defense ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the face of "new security challenges in the region," said a joint statement issued after their meeting in Nicosia on Wednesday.
* European Union trade ministers will discuss a dispute over steel and aluminium tariffs with US officials at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said.
* India reported on Thursday 276,110 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,874. The South Asian nation's infection tally stands at 25.77 million, with a death toll of 287,122, health ministry data showed.
* Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, on Wednesday announced it will extend a nighttime curfew to curb the transmission of COVID-19 but will relax restrictions on businesses starting June 1.
* Mexico's economy is on track to see 5 percent to 6 percent growth in 2021, but concerned officials are keeping a close eye on inflation, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday.
* Spain will allow people under age 60 who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca's vaccine to receive their second inoculation either with the AstraZeneca drug or with Pfizer's vaccine.
* Cyprus has recorded its first cases of the Indian variant, its health ministry said.
* Brazil's health minister said he had spoken with Moderna about buying its vaccine, as the country scrambles for shots from producers passed over last year.
* Australia's peak medical body warned that residents were "sitting ducks" for COVID-19, as business leaders call for the international border to be reopened faster despite a sluggish national vaccination drive.
* Emergent BioSolutions could resume making J&J's vaccine "within days" of getting the regulatory go-ahead, but is still fixing the problems that ruined millions of doses in March.
* Pfizer is to begin producing a key ingredient for its vaccine at an Irish facility for the first time.
* New Zealand lifted welfare benefit rates and promised billions of dollars more towards addressing rising inequality in its annual budget, as it predicted smaller deficits and a faster economic recovery from COVID-19.
* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 12,298 to 3,626,393, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 237 to 86,902, the tally showed.
* Egypt will extend measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, including early closing hours for shops, until the end of May.
* Zimbabwe has detected the first cases of the new coronavirus variant that emerged in India and all travellers from the Asian nation would be required to undergo mandatory quarantine.
