COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 18 February

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 419.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.86 million. More than 10.42 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that six African countries – Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia – would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines. The technology transfer project, launched last year, aims to help low- and middle-income countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards.

Western Australia, the mining-heavy state that has held firm on strict border controls for two years, said it will reopen to triple-vaccinated visitors after deciding it can cope with the Omicron outbreak. Announcing a 3 March reopening, state Premier Mark McGowan told reporters: "Our hosts are ready, our workforce is ready, Western Australia is ready."

South Korea's new daily COVID-19 cases topped 100,000 for the first time amid an Omicron outbreak, with authorities saying social distancing measures would ease only slightly ahead of the 9 March presidential election. The authorities announced on Friday that they would move a curfew on restaurants and cafes from 21.00 to 22.00, in a nod to increasing criticism from business owners.

The US state of California's Governor, Gavin Newsom, presented a plan on Thursday to confront COVID-19 beyond its pandemic phase. This involves a focus on readiness, vigilance and vaccines as the nation's most populous state moves from a crisis approach to "living with this virus".

Israel has dropped a "Green Pass" policy requiring proof of vaccination, recovery from COVID-19 or a negative test to enter some public venues, further rolling back restrictions as a wave of infections recedes.

Hong Kong SAR, China, has identified more than 20,000 hotel rooms for quarantine accommodation, leader Carrie Lam said on Friday, with property developers piling in to show support as the global financial hub battles a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Lam said 21 hotels have expressed interest in turning their facilities into isolation venues, exceeding "by a large margin the government's original target of 7,000 to 10,000 rooms".

Quarantine facilities have reached capacity and hospital beds are more than 95% full as cases spiral, with some patients, including the elderly, left on beds outside in chilly, sometimes rainy, weather.

The moves come as authorities report new cases have multiplied 60 times this month, and after Chinese President Xi Jinping said the city's "overriding mission" is to stabilise and control the outbreak.

Hong Kong SAR reported 3,629 new daily COVID-19 infections on Friday, with an additional 7,600 preliminary positive cases, authorities said.

Meanwhile, parents rushed children as young as 3 years old to vaccination centres this week as the government lowered the age limit for the shots.

Misinformation about science is increasingly prevalent and a significant public health threat that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will focus on fighting, incoming Commissioner Robert Califf said on Thursday.

Califf, who was sworn in on Thursday, did not specify any particular misinformation the FDA should fight, but millions of Americans still refuse COVID-19 vaccines, with many conservative media outlets and Republicans in the US Congress spreading doubt about their effectiveness.

Healthcare workers say misinformation is the most important factor influencing people who refuse to get vaccinated. COVID-19 is killing around 2,200 Americans a day, the majority of whom are unvaccinated.

"These kinds of distortions and half-truths that find their way into the public domain do enormous harm, both by leading people to behaviour that is detrimental to their health and by causing them to eschew interventions that would improve their health," said Califf.

"A purely reactive mode is not appropriate, particularly in this new era of social media," he told FDA staff in a public letter outlining his priorities, adding that the agency will be more proactive in providing the public with health information.