KINGSTON, Jamaica – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis, compiled by AFP.

– Beijing is accused of trying to block Taiwan from getting Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from Germany, with President Tsai Ing-wen condemning what she described as Chinese interference.

For its part China claims the United States is “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation” that the virus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the pandemic began.

– Dominic Cummings, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former top aide turned foe, told lawmakers that the government failed the public by not having adequate planning in place for the pandemic.

– The European Union accused AstraZeneca of a “flagrant violation” of its contract to rapidly build-up vaccine production capacity in the bloc, as it began legal action against the drugs giant.

– The variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization (WHO) report shows.

– Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper, an official Tokyo Olympics sponsor, called for the Games to be cancelled in the latest sign of opposition less than two months before the opening ceremony.

– The virus death toll in Brazil surpassed 450,000 as delays plague the hard-hit country’s vaccine rollout and epidemiologists warn a new surge of infections could be coming.

– The European Medicines Agency will announce on Friday whether it has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech jab for 12- to 15-year-olds.

The pandemic has killed at least 3,487,457 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 590,941 deaths, followed by Brazil with 452,031, India with 311,388, Mexico with 221,960 and Britain with 127,739.

The figures are based on reports by the health authorities in each country, but do not take into account upward revisions carried out later by statistical bodies.

The WHO says up to three times more people have died directly or indirectly due to the pandemic than official figures suggest.