The World Health Organization issued a grim warning on Friday that the second year of Covid-19 was set to be “far more deadly,” as Japan extended a state of emergency amid growing calls for the Olympics to be scrapped.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday Britain would accelerate its COVID-19 vaccination programme, to try to contain a fast-spreading variant first identified in India that could knock a re-opening of the economy off track.

The World Health Organization urged rich countries on Friday to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate Covid-19 shots to the COVAX scheme that shares them with poorer nations.

India and the United States today agreed to work towards increasing Covid-19 vaccine availability and saving lives.

The World Health Organization said today is in touch with the United States about sharing vaccines with the international COVAX scheme, which distributes doses to poorer countries.

Twenty-six people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Facing Covid-19 vaccine crunch at present, India can potentially get 216 crore doses in five months between August and December -- enough to vaccinate its entire adult population, a senior official of the government has said.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine generates antibody responses three-and-a-half times larger in older people when a second dose is delayed to 12 weeks after the first, a British study said.

The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in England has prevented nearly 12,000 deaths and more than 30,000 hospitalisations in older people, an analysis by government agency Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday.

In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

The Indian government today announced that it has accepted the recommendation of its committee of experts to extend the gap between the two doses of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield -- from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks.

India recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths for a second straight day on Thursday, while infections stayed below 400,000 for a fourth day, although the virus has become rampant in rural areas where cases can go unreported due to a lack of testing.

COVID-19 vaccine developers are making ever bolder assertions that the world will need yearly booster shots, or new vaccines to tackle concerning coronavirus variants, but some scientists question when, or whether, such shots will be needed.

Thirty-one people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Some wealthy nations that were most praised last year for controlling the coronavirus are now lagging far behind in getting their people vaccinated — and some, especially in Asia, are seeing COVID-19 cases grow.

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world. The total caseload has now surpassed 160 million.

A committee of experts, set up by the Indian government, has recommended doubling the gap between the two doses of Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India) -- from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks, official sources said today.

The European Union's executive on Wednesday called on countries of the bloc to temporarily halt non-essential travel from India, to limit the spread of a Covid-19 variant.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Wednesday for the need to double the capacity of Covid-19 vaccine production and for fairer redistribution of the shots in the developing world, which faces new waves of the coronavirus.

Antibody developed in 92 percent people a month after taking the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, while it developed in 97 percent people two months after receiving the vaccine, said IEDCR.