China sees biggest daily COVID-19 case jump in over five months

The National Health Commission said on Wednesday that a total of 115 new confirmed cases were reported on the Chinese mainland compared with 55 a day earlier – highest daily increase since July 30.

The commission said 107 of the new cases were local infections and eight from overseas. The domestic cases were reported in northern and northeastern China: 90 in Hebei Province, 16 in Heilongjiang Province and one in Shanxi Province.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 38 from 81 cases a day earlier, while 556 asymptomatic patients remain under medical observation. No deaths related to COVID-19 were registered on Tuesday, and 28 patients were discharged from hospitals.

The total number of the confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland has reached 87,706, and the death toll stands at 4,634.

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U.S. expedites COVID-19 shots as death toll hits new daily record of nearly 4,500

Facing a slower-than-hoped coronavirus vaccine rollout, the Trump administration abruptly shifted gears Tuesday to speed up the delivery of shots to more people. New York state expanded COVID-19 vaccine distribution Tuesday to people aged 65 and above.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. hit a new daily record of nearly 4,500, Johns Hopkins University said Tuesday evening, the first time the toll surpassed 4,000 in 24 hours.

Read more: The U.S. isn't doing enough to track coronavirus variants: NBC News

Japan to expand state of emergency over COVID-19 to seven more prefectures

The Japanese government plans to expand the state of emergency it declared for the Tokyo area last week to seven additional prefectures on Wednesday in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, public broadcaster NHK reported.

It has seen some 298,000 coronavirus cases and 4,192 deaths so far, according to NHK.

Indonesia launches vaccination drive as COVID-19 deaths hit record

Indonesia launched one of the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns on Wednesday with President Joko Widodo getting the first shot of a Chinese vaccine as his country fights one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia.

The drive aims to inoculate 181.5 million people, with the first to be vaccinated receiving the CoronaVac vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech, which Indonesia authorized for emergency use on Monday.

Read more: China, Indonesia to strengthen medical, maritime cooperation

Brazil to decide Sunday on emergency use of Chinese and British COVID-19 vaccines

The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) said it has scheduled a meeting on Sunday to decide on the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines developed by China's Sinovac Biotech and by AstraZeneca PLC jointly with Oxford University.

Mexico aims to fast track Russian Sputnik vaccine authorization

Mexican health authorities will make a decision this week on whether to authorize Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine after getting access to data on it, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.

Mexico reported 14,395 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,314 more fatalities on Tuesday, according to the health ministry, bringing its total to 1,556,028 infections and 135,682 deaths.

Facing criticism of rollout, France to give daily updates on vaccinations

The French government is to provide daily updates on the number of people it has vaccinated after criticism of slow pace of its jab program compared with other European countries.

Only 138,000 people had received a jab as of Monday evening, well below the 1 million vaccines available in the country.

Germany tightens travel rules in response to new virus strain

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested the country's current hard lockdown may last another eight to 10 weeks, with health officials particularly concerned about the spread of the variant first discovered in the UK, which is thought to have been in Germany for several weeks.