Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has urged the US to impose restrictions on the troops stationed in Japan amid a spread of COVID-19 cases among the US military personnel.

Millions of people have faced travel disruption over Christmas after airline companies have cancelled thousands of flights worldwide as the surging Omicron variant creates greater uncertainty and misery for holiday travelers.

Blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic, as inequity in access to jabs could lead to more mutated variants that drag out the crisis, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warns.

No city in Iran has been in the COVID-19 high-risk red zone during the past 24 hours, the country's Health Ministry and Medical Education said on Saturday.

France says it is willing to discuss autonomy for its Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe if it is in the interests of the people who live there following days of protests on the island.

Europe has once again become the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a high jump in new deaths compared to the last week, according to the WHO.

Schools in England affected by high numbers of Covid-19 cases among staff and students have been forced to re-wear masks and send whole-year groups home to study online.