JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel would offer a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 and to medical staff as it faces a surge in omicron variant infections.Israel last week approved a fourth dose of the …

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa has lifted a midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement, effective immediately, saying the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant, a government statement said Thu…

Low vaccination rates are of mounting concern amid a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Africa, where nearly 227,000 deaths have been reported, according to the Africa CDC’s COVID-19 dashboard. Only 20 African countries had vaccinated at least 10% of t…

NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.The guidance is in keeping with growing evidence…

WASHINGTON — U.S. airlines called off hundreds of flights for a third day in a row on Sunday as surging COVID-19 infections due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant grounded crews and forced tens of thousands of Christmas weekend travelers to ch…

TOKYO/PARIS — Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture has confirmed its first infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, its governor Seitaro Hattori said Saturday. The case was

ABUJA — Nigeria’s number of confirmed COVID-19 infections nearly doubled on Wednesday, to a record of more than 4,000 — the most since the start of the pandemic. Nigerian officials say the jump raises serious concerns and are urging people to stay away…

The World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Wednesday that blanket COVID-19 vaccine booster programs will not bring a definite end to the global pandemic, but prolong it, as poorer countries struggle to vacci…

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden laid out a new concerted effort Tuesday to combat the surging omicron variant of the coronavirus, dispatching federal health care workers to short-handed hospitals, pre-positioning the national stockpile of medical…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey say they have tested positive for COVID-19, as the country deals with another surge in cases and the emergence of the omicron variant.In separate statements Sund…