South Korean officials announced Sunday that a million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in the country this week from the United States, doubling its earlier pledge.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the shipment includes vaccines for 550,000 South Korean soldiers, as promised by U.S. President Joe Biden at his summit with President Moon Jae-in.
Authorities in India also said Sunday the country will have almost 120 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for domestic use next month, a significant increase from the 79.4 million available for the month of May.
India has inoculated with two shots only about 3% of its 1.35 billion people.
Meanwhile, Indian health officials reported Sunday the lowest daily rise of infections in 46 days.
In Malaysia, government announced it is planning to open more so-called mega vaccination centers, as the country marked a new daily record of COVID-19 infections.
Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told reporters in a virtual press conference Sunday that the government will set up five other centers around the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and possibly two in the northern state of Penang and in the southern state of Johor.
In Malaysia, a country of 32 million people, almost 6% of the population have been vaccinated, according to the data published by the governmental Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply on its website.
In Brazil, tens of thousands of people took again to the streets in the capital, Brasilia, and other major cities to protest President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some protesters in Rio de Janeiro marched through the streets, chanting "Bolsonaro genocide" or "Go away Bolsovirus."
According to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll after the U.S., with over 461,000 and 594,300 respectively.
In Europe, France reported that Saturday the number of people in intensive care suffering from COVID-19 fell by 76 to 3,028 and the overall number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 decreased by 425 to 16,847.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12, widening the pool of those eligible to be inoculated, following similar approvals in the United States and Canada.
Germany and Italy have already said they are preparing to extend their vaccination campaign to youths ages 12 to 15.
Britain has approved a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson. It is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine approved in the country, after inoculations made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.
