Germany's disease control center is calling for people to cancel or avoid large events and to reduce their contacts as the country's coronavirus infection rate hits the latest in a string of new highs.

The center, the Robert Koch Institute, said Friday that Germany's infection rate climbed to 263.7 new cases per 100,000 residents over seven days, up from 249.1 the previous day.

In what it called a world first, Israel on Thursday held a "war game drill" in case of an outbreak of a new lethal variant of Covid-19.

Germany needs further coronavirus restrictions to combat a record surge in infections and "get through this winter", would-be chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, calling a meeting with state premiers to decide new curbs.

What if a simple pill could help heal from Covid-19?

Pfizer said Friday that a clinical trial of its pill to treat Covid-19 had shown it is highly effective.

China's government has urged citizens to stock up on daily necessities and for authorities to take steps to ensure adequate food supplies as the country adopts increasingly tight measures to contain its latest Covid outbreak.

Climate change and the relaunch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world's most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic.

A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus.

Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea has overseen a donation of medications to the Hôpital Psychiatrique de la Croix. 

Pharmaceutical company Merck agreed to allow other drug makers to produce its COVID-19 pill, in a move aimed at helping millions of people in poorer countries get access to the potentially life-saving drug, a United Nations-backed public health organization said on Wednesday.

The Medicines Patent Pool said in a statement that it had signed a voluntary licensing agreement for molnupiravir with Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.