The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday it feared another 236,000 Covid-19 deaths in Europe by December 1, expressing concern about stagnating vaccination rates and low uptake in poorer countries.

Some 2 million French workers in restaurants and other service jobs must now show a health pass to go to work, as part of government virus-fighting efforts.

The public is already required to show the pass to go to French restaurants, tourist sites and many other public venues.

New Zealand has reported its first coronavirus vaccine death.

A health board that monitors vaccine safety said Monday a woman died from myocarditis after taking the Pfizer vaccine. The board said the woman likely developed the condition because of the vaccine, although she had other medical issues which may have contributed.

The press office of caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Friday that “things are getting better” after the raids carried out by the minister on medicine warehouses.

As the Delta variant continues its global surge, experts are questioning whether the long-held goal of achieving herd immunity from Covid-19 through vaccination is still viable.

Herd immunity is achieved when a certain threshold of the global population has either been inoculated against a pathogen or has recovered from infection.

As if her cancer treatment was not already agonizing enough, Rita is now wracked with worry about the medication she needs as Lebanon's crippling economic crisis sparks drug shortages.

"The treatment is like fire shooting through your body," the 53-year-old patient told AFP, asking that her real name not be given. "But now on top of that, we have to go hunting for the drugs."

Fatigue and shortness of breath still afflict many patients a year after their hospitalization for Covid-19, according to a new Chinese study calling for a better understanding of the pandemic's long-term health effects.

Around half of patients discharged from hospital for Covid still suffer from at least one persistent symptom -- most often fatigue or muscle weakness -- after 12 months, said the study published in British medical journal The Lancet Friday.

The international scientists dispatched to China by the World Health Organization to find out where the coronavirus came from said Wednesday the search has stalled and warned that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is "closing fast."

Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence review ordered up by President Joe Biden proved inconclusive about the virus's origin, including whether it jumped from an animal to a human or escaped from a Chinese lab, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

"Vaccine passports" are digital or paper documents that show you were vaccinated against COVID-19, and could help you get into a growing number of places.

What they look like and why you might want one depend on where you live, but more private venues, workplaces and governments are requiring proof of vaccination in public settings.

Japan suspended use of about 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccine Thursday after contamination was found in unused vials, raising concern of a supply shortage as the country tries to accelerate vaccinations amid a COVID-19 surge.

The health ministry said contamination was reported from multiple vaccination sites. Some doses might have been administered, but no adverse health effects have been reported so far, officials said.