Fully-vaccinated people have an around 50% to 60% reduced risk of infection from the Delta variant, including those who are asymptomatic, a large English coronavirus prevalence study found.   

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, its head said on Wednesday, as the body seeks to ensure at least 10% of the population of every country is vaccinated.

* China reported on Wednesday the most new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since January as some cities stepped up restrictions, cut flights and increased testing to get to grips with an outbreak driven mainly by the Delta variant.

* The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new 60-day moratorium on residential evictions in areas with high levels of COVID-19 infections.

* Russia reported 22,589 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including 2,502 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,356,784.

* Indonesia recorded a grim milestone of more than 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, data from the country’s health ministry showed, with the Southeast Asian nation recently accounting for one in five fatalities globally.

* The European Commission has approved a supply contract with US firm Novavax for the purchase of up to 200 million of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, the Commission said.

* Britain will offer all 16 and 17 year olds their first COVID-19 vaccine shots, Britain's vaccine advisers said, extending eligibility of the shots beyond the clinically vulnerable.

* Ukraine has received 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Denmark, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

* The Republic of Korea posted a sharp increase in its coronavirus cases as it struggled to tame its fourth wave of infections.

* The US Food and Drug Administration aims to give full approval for the Pfizer vaccine by early September, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

* Health authorities in northern Mexico vaccinated hundreds of migrants living in makeshift tents a few meters from a pedestrian crossing bridge to the United States in the border city of Tijuana on Tuesday.

* Dubai's state airport operator expects a surge in passenger traffic over the coming weeks and months, after the United Arab Emirates announced an easing of travel restrictions from African and Asian countries.

* Israel warned against travel to the United States and other countries and said it would tighten quarantine measures for inbound travellers.

* Indonesia's spending on fighting its ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, one of the world's worst, could exceed INR300 trillion (US$20.97 billion) this year, the Southeast Asian country's finance minister said.

* Russia and the United States will continue working together on the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024, the Interfax news agency cited a senior official at Russia's space agency Roscosmos as saying on Wednesday.

* Firefighters were battling 16 wildfires across Turkey on Wednesday, including one near a coal-fired power station, with high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds fanning the flames.

* Two rockets launched from Lebanon on Wednesday struck Israel, which responded with artillery fire, amid heightened regional tensions over an alleged Iranian attack on an oil tanker in the Gulf last week.

* An explosion near the office of Afghanistan's main security agency wounded three people on Wednesday, hours after a bomb and gun attack on a minister's compound brought surging Taliban violence to the capital.

Reuters