COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 January

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 310.5 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.49 million. More than 9.46 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

New COVID-19 cases in Australia continue to hover around record levels, with Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews warning of "significant pressure in our health system".

Poland's total COVID-19 death toll has passed 100,000, the country's health minister has announced.

Japan has announced its tight entry restrictions, in place to prevent the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, will remain in place until the end of February.

India has reported 168,063 new COVID-19 cases - less than the previous day's figure of 179,723.

Pfizer's Chief Executive Albert Bourla said yesterday that a redesigned COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron variant is likely needed. The company could have one ready to launch by March, he said.

Chile has begun its roll-out of a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to immunocompromised people - a first for the region.

Peru reported an all-time high of 70,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections in the first week of January, a health official said yesterday.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in France rose by 767 to 22,749 on Monday, the biggest increase since April 2021.

The United States reported a record 1.35 million new COVID-19 cases yesterday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total for any country since the start of the pandemic.

The previous record was 1.03 million, reported in the US on 3 January. A large number of cases are reported each Monday as many states do not report over the weekend. The seven-day average for new cases has now tripled in two weeks to over 700,000.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has also hit an all-time high in the US.

T cells created by the body to ward off the common cold can actually help protect against the virus that causes COVID-19 - and could aid in future vaccine development.

Scientists at Imperial College London found the presence of T cells at the time of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 can influence whether someone becomes infected.

Dr Rhia Kundu, from Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, says: “Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection."

However, Dr Kundu warned people should still get their booster: "While this is an important discovery, it is only one form of protection, and I would stress that no one should rely on this alone. Instead, the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is to be fully vaccinated, including getting your booster dose.”

Previous research looked at whether other T cells induced by other coronaviruses, including the common cold, could recognize SARS-CoV-2.

T cells are white blood cells that are a vital part of the body's immune response to disease and they play different roles.

"They can act as 'killer cells', attacking cells which have been infected with a virus or another kind of pathogen, or they can act as 'helper cells' by supporting B cells to produce antibodies," says Imperial's Professor Rosemary Boyton.

The latest findings could provide a blueprint for a second-generation, universal vaccine that could prevent infection from current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron.