Israel has recorded its highest daily coronavirus case tally of nearly 11,000 new infections, amid a surge caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant as schools prepare to reopen.
The previous high came on 18 January, with 10,118 cases.
Despite today's 10,947 confirmed cases, Israel is pressing ahead with plans to fully open its school system tomorrow as it tries to boost vaccination rates.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a critic of the cycle of lockdowns implemented by his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, has maintained that the surge can be controlled through inoculation and protective measures such as masks.
His government has encouraged all residents aged 12 and above to get a third get jab of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
About 60% of Israel's 9.3 million residents have received two shots of the vaccine, including 80% of adults.
Israel was in December one of the first countries to launch a national vaccination campaign, which brought daily infections down to a trickle and allowed the lifting in June of nearly all pandemic restrictions.
Several measures have since been reimposed, including indoor mask wearing, limits on gatherings and the need to present proof of vaccination for entry to certain facilities.
Mr Bennett has said that the rollout of the booster shot programme was showing results, notably by restricting the rise in the of hospitalisations.
EU says it has reached goal of vaccinating 70% of adults
The European Commission said that 70% of the European Union's adult population had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, hitting a target it set at the beginning of the year.
The announcement marks a milestone in the EU vaccination strategy after a slow start, but it also masks big differences among EU countries, with some nations exceeding the 70% goal, while others in the poorer eastern region of the bloc are far behind.
"70% of adults in EU are fully vaccinated. I want to thank the many people making this great achievement possible," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter.
In January, the commission said that "by summer 2021, member states should have vaccinated a minimum of 70% of the adult population."
This was interpreted as meaning that each of the 27 EU member states should hit that target by September. Many, fearing they could not, criticised the commission in internal meetings, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Now the bloc cumulatively has vaccinated 70% of its adult population, which means that at least 255 million people have received either two doses of Pfizer/BionTech , AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines, or one shot of the single-dose Janssen jab.
The situation differs vastly between countries. Malta has fully vaccinated over 90% of its adult population, data from the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) show.
Ireland and Portugal have also immunised more than 80% of their adult population, and France is above 70%, according to ECDC figures, which usually are updated slightly later than information at disposal of the EU Commission.
In the east, Bulgaria has fully vaccinated just one-fifth of its adult population, and Romania about 30% of adults. Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia and Slovakia have immunised about half of those aged above 18.
"We must go further! We need more Europeans to vaccinate. And we need to help the rest of the world vaccinate, too," Ms von der Leyen said in her tweet.
Berlin clubs to reopen to the vaccinated, recovered
Berlin's dance clubs, a pillar of the German capital's nightlife and economy, can reopen to the vaccinated and those who have recovered from a coronavirus infection, the city government has said.
As one of the last sectors to return to full operation, clubs should be able to benefit from the new policy from this weekend, the Berlin government said in a statement, with a mask requirement also being abolished.
Some venues began welcoming guests in outdoor space this summer while requiring proof of vaccination, recovery or a current negative Covid-19 test as well as mask wearing.
By allowing clubs to open doors their indoor spaces as well as open-air areas, the Berlin government is complying with a judge's order, said the city's top health official, Dilek Kalayci.
The administrative court had ruled on 20 August that Berlin's previous ban on public dance events in response to the pandemic could not stand for the vaccinated and recovered.
The reopening, which comes as infection rates rise again in a fourth wave of the outbreak, will also apply to the city's popular saunas, hammams and thermal baths.
However the interior dining rooms of restaurants and cafeterias will now require managers to "review proof of testing, vaccination or recovery and bar those without such proof from entering".
The number of infections in Germany has climbed steadily since early July to reach 74.8 per 100,000 people over the last seven days, with just over 60% of the eligible population fully vaccinated.
Berlin's infection rate is slightly lower at 72.2 per 100,000 with 60% of the population vaccinated.
Glaxo, SK bioscience start final trial of Covid-19 vaccine
British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and South Korean peer SK bioscience have begun final stage trials of a Covid-19 jab after positive early results.
The vaccine is facing a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess its "safety and immunogenicity" when compared with AstraZeneca's coronavirus jab, the two companies said in a joint statement.
GSK is still trailing in the wake of Anglo-Swedish rival AstraZeneca, which rapidly developed a successful jab alongside Oxford University despite having little prior experience in vaccine development.
The new jab combines SK bioscience's vaccine candidate GBP510 with Glaxo's pandemic adjuvant that bolsters the immune response.
"The advance to Phase 3 study follows positive interim Phase 1/2 data which showed that all participants who received the adjuvanted vaccine candidate developed strong neutralising antibody responses," the pair said today.
Those responses demonstrated a rate of seroconversion - or production of antibodies - of 100%, they added.
No safety concerns have so far been identified in the study.
The vaccine is then expected to be supplied via COVAX - the distributor backed by the World Health Organization and the Gavi vaccine alliance - subject to positive results and regulatory approvals.
"While many countries have made good progress with vaccination, there remains a need for accessible and affordable Covid-19 vaccines to ensure equitable access and to protect people across the world," said GSK chief global health officer Thomas Breuer.
"We are pleased to contribute with GSK's pandemic adjuvant and to be working with SK to deliver the vaccine at scale via COVAX if it is approved."
Results from the Phase 3 trial, which will involve 4,000 participants from various nations, are expected in the first half of next year.
This will be the first Phase 3 study to compare outcomes of two different Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
SK has received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help it develop a low-cost jab.
Glaxo is also working with French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi on final Phase 3 tests of a different Covid-19 vaccine, which they hope to launch by the end of this year.
Phase 2 trials of that jab have already showed a strong immune response after a single shot in participants who had previously contracted the coronavirus.
GSK is also working on another two separate vaccine projects, one with Canada's Medicago and another with Germany's CureVac.
