People keep safety distance as they wait to receive food at soup kitchen in Comas, in the northern outskirts of Lima on February 03, 2021, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. On top of hills, Peruvian women organize soup kitchens to feed hundreds of low-income families amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 2,281,408 with the global confirmed cases reaching 104,827,177 as of 9:30 am BJT on Friday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Current status (data as of 9:30 am BJT, February 5):

Britain confirmed Thursday it will introduce its new mandatory hotel quarantine rules for travelers returning from dozens of countries deemed at "high risk" from Covid-19 variants later this month.

Johnson & Johnson asked US regulators Thursday to clear the world’s first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that could boost scarce supplies.

Lithuania will start coronavirus genome sequencing process to monitor the diversity, prevalence and genome change of COVID-19 strains in Lithuania, the country's health ministry said on Thursday.

The government of South Australia (SA) has been urged to bring international students back to the state on charter flights. The Northern Territory in November last year used a charter flight to bring 63 students into Darwin from Singapore. They were the first international students to enter Australia since borders were closed in March 2020.

Canada announced on Thursday to extend its ban on cruise ships in Canadian waters for one more year to 2022. Under the ban, cruise vessels carrying more than 100 people are prohibited from operating in Canadian waters, as well as adventure-seeking pleasure crafts operating in the country's Arctic waters, except for those used by residents in the region.