WHO says UK Covid variant is in at least 60 countries

Concern over new strains leads governments around the world to tighten restrictions

A nurse treating a patient in the Saint-Georges Hospital in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanese. EPA

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin waving to people positive with Covid-19 coronavirus at a quarantine facility in Serdang, outside Kuala Lumpur. AFP

After receiving her vaccination against the novel coronavirus, 90-year-old Odores H. sits under the domed roof of the vaccination centre in the Festhalle in Frankfurt. AP

President Moon Jae-in (R) looks at a Covid-19 vaccine vial during a visit to a plant of South Korean bio firm SK Bioscience Co. in the southeastern city of Andong, South Korea. EPA

Seventy-three crosses representing deaths to Covid-19 in Nevada County stand as part of the Covid Memorial in Grass Valley, California. AP Photo

A worker standing on a crane platform paints a mural of health workers on the facade of the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Bloomberg

US President-elect Joe Biden, wife Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and husband Douglas Emhoff stand at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a Covid-19 memorial to lives lost on the National Mall in Washington. Bloomberg

Relatives leave flowers on the portrait of Jorge Luis Casana, 62, a doctor who died due to the new coronavirus in Lima, Peru. AP

Health professional Raimunda Nonata, 70, is inoculated with the Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac vaccine, becoming the first Quilombola to be vaccinated at the community Quilombo Marajupena, Brazil. AFP

A person walks at the Covid-19 vaccination center in the halls of the Trade Fair Lucerne after opening to the public in Lucerne, Switzerland. EPA

A man reads a book at a book store in Beijing. AFP

A man places flags at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. The 1,665 flags represent the area residents who died in the coronavirus pandemic and the display was part of a national memorial to lives lost to Covid-19. AP

Relatives of patients infected with Covid-19 leave after queueing for long hours to refill their oxygen tanks at the Carboxi company in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. AFP

A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) stands next to a patient at the temporary wards dedicated to the treatment of possible COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. EPA

Chinese passengers wearing full protective suits and masks to protect against the COVID-19 pandemic push their luggage trolleys at the departures area at Ben-Gurion Airport in Lod, near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. AFP

The B117 coronavirus variant, first reported in the UK, has been found in at least 60 countries, 10 more than seven days ago, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

It also said the South African variant was reported in 23 countries and territories.

Both the UK and South African variants are believed to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than early strains.

The number of deaths reached a high of 93,000 in the previous week, with 4.7 million new cases reported, the WHO said.

Concerns over the increased infectivity of new strains caused governments around the world to toughen constraints as authorities try to slow infections until vaccines become widely available.

Covid-19 has caused more than two million deaths globally since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan more than a year ago, while the number of reported cases is edging towards 100 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The US is by far the worst-hit nation, having recorded more than 400,000 deaths. President-elect Joe Biden focused on healing at a memorial for victims of the pandemic on the eve of his inauguration.

"It's hard sometimes to remember but that's how we heal. It's important to do that as a nation," Mr Biden said on Tuesday at the National Mall reflecting pool in Washington, where lights were turned on as a memorial to those who died.

"Let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all who we lost."

Almost a year after the US registered its first fatality, the pace of the pandemic has picked up, with 100,000 deaths reported in the past month alone.

Mr Biden made tackling the pandemic his top priority as he prepared to take office in Washington on Wednesday.

He is already being forced to take action, with his aides rejecting a move by outgoing President Donald Trump to lift an entry ban for travellers from Europe and Brazil.