ROME/LONDON: Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth on Saturday became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, as the UK reported it had surpassed more than 3 million cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
Almost 1.9 million people worldwide have now died from the virus, with new variants adding to soaring cases and prompting the re-introduction of restrictions on movement across the globe - even as some countries begin mass inoculation campaigns.
Pope Francis urged people to get the vaccination, calling opposition to the jab "suicidal denial" and saying he would get inoculated against the virus himself next week when the Vatican would begin its campaign. "There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated," the pontiff said in segments from an interview with Canale 5 due to be broadcast in full on Sunday.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip received their Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday, Buckingham Palace said, in a rare public comment on the private health matters of the long-serving monarch.
A source told the domestic Press Association news agency that the queen, 94, and Philip, 99, were given the injections by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle.
More than 1.5 million people in Britain have so far received virus jabs, as the biggest immunisation programme in its history rolls out with priority given to the elderly, their carers and health workers.
Countries across the globe are following suit, starting up massive vaccination campaigns with several coronavirus shots approved so far, including those by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and domestically made jabs from Russia and China.
British health authorities on Saturday said the country had recorded over three million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began last year, after the government announced another 59,937 new daily cases.
The country also recorded another 1,035 fatalities from the virus, taking the total death toll to 80,868, one of the highest in Europe alongside Italy.
The United States - the world's worst hit country - also logged a record new daily virus caseload, adding 290,000 new cases within 24 hours Friday according to Johns Hopkins University. A day earlier the US recorded a daily record of nearly 4,000 deaths.
Tighter restrictions
India will launch one of the world's most ambitious coronavirus vaccination drives next Saturday, aiming to reach 300 million people by July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
The vaccine will be free for the country's population of 1.3 billion, and Modi said the January 16 start would be "a landmark step" in fighting the pandemic.
India is the second worst-hit country with more than 10 million cases, though the death rate is one of the world's lowest.
France will extend its Covid-19 curfews to a further eight departments, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Saturday, citing a "tough and necessary" response even as some local officials opposed the restrictions.
On Saturday the streets of the Australian city of Brisbane were quiet as its more than two million residents were ordered back into lockdown, after authorities detected a single infection of a new strain from Britain, which is thought to be more infectious.
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