KINGSTON, Jamaica — The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide has surpassed 59.2 million, with over 1.3 million people across 196 countries and territories having died and over 37.6 million having recovered from the virus. Many countries had eased restrictions on movement and social gathering, but in recent weeks some have had to reimpose measures due to a resurgence in the number of infections.

— Jamaica now has 243 deaths from 10,422 confirmed cases of the virus following 79 new cases and four deaths  in the last 24 hours.

— Jamaica was among five Caribbean countries whose risk assessment was moved up to the ‘Level Four: COVID-19 Very High’ category by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warning Americans to avoid all travel to the country. The other Caribbean countries are Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and the Turks and Caicos Island.

— The Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceno, has tested positive for COVID-19.

— International travellers will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to fly with Australia’s Qantas, the company has said, the first major airline to suggest that such rules could become common across the industry.

— Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 95 per cent effective according to a second interim analysis of clinical trial data, its developers said today.

— England is cutting the two-week quarantine facing people arriving from regions not on Britain’s COVID-19 safe list, reducing it to as little as five days if they test negative for the virus.

— The US government will, today, start distributing 30,000 doses of an experimental antibody drug to fight COVID-19, the one President Donald Trump received last month.

— The United States has so far recorded 257,707 deaths, making it the hardest-hit country. Meanwhile, Brazil has recorded 169,485 deaths, India 134,218, Mexico 101,926, and the United Kingdom 55,230.

Read the full stories here:

England to cut travel quarantines to 5 days with tests

Russia says Sputnik V virus vaccine 95% effective

Qantas to require COVID vaccine on international flights

Belize PM tests positive for COVID-19

US to start distributing experimental virus drug

CDC lists Jamaica, 4 other C’bean countries as high risk for COVID-19