Coronavirus: Latest Global Developments

People shop at a fresh food market in Hong Kong on 1 March, 2022, as panic buying returned to the city this week with many supermarket shelves stripped bare following mixed messaging from the government over whether it plans a city lockdown later this month when it tests all residents. (AFP Photo)

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

Queen Elizabeth II Back To Work 

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 95, holds two virtual audiences after she was forced to cancel engagements last week since catching the virus.

Zero Deaths In South Africa 

South Africa records zero virus deaths for two days, for the first time since May 2020, health authorities say.

Hong Kong Panic Buying 

Hong Kongers strip shop shelves bare amid panic buying over fears that the government intends to impose a China-style hard lockdown.

China Could 'Co-Exist' With Virus 

China could move away from its zero-COVID strategy "in the near future" and co-exist with the virus, a top Chinese scientist says.

Valneva Vaccine For Bahrain 

French-Austrian biotech firm Valneva says its vaccine has received emergency authorisation for use in Bahrain, the first approval for the jab.

England Scraps COVID Jab Requirement For Health Staff

Health and social care workers in England will no longer have to have a COVID jab as a condition of employment from later this month, the government said Tuesday.

Nearly Six Million Dead 

The coronavirus has killed at least 5,952,685 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Tuesday.

The United States (US) has recorded the most COVID deaths with 950,481, followed by Brazil on 649,333, India on 514,023.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to COVID, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the true death toll could be two to three times higher.