COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this week

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 604.3 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 6.49 million. More than 12.58 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Provisional US government data has shown that life expectancy in 2021 fell to its lowest level since 1996 - the second year of retreat due to COVID-19 deaths.

The Canadian province of Ontario has said that residents can come out of isolation with a mask as soon as 24 hours after their COVID-19 symptoms dissipate.

Cyprus has announced an end to all restrictions on gatherings and the mandatory use of face masks in most areas as a result of falling COVID-19 cases.

South Korea will no longer require travellers to the country to test for COVID-19 before departure. However, arrivals to the country will still need to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival.

A new research institution is being launched in Australia with the aim of developing drugs to treat diseases caused by pathogens with the potential to cause global pandemics more quickly.

Denmark is preparing to go through the coming winter without any COVID-19 restrictions even with an expected rise in infections, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said last week.

The EU's medical regulator has authorized the use of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine as a shot for adults.

Canada has approved Moderna's bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, which targets both the original strain of the virus and the BA.1 version of Omicron.

Russia reported more than 50,000 new confirmed daily COVID-19 cases for the second day running on Saturday.

Britain's medicines regulator has authorized the use of Pfizer/BioNTech's updated bivalent COVID-19 booster shot for those aged 12 and over.

Portugal is set the begin the rollout of COVID-19 booster shots, along with a seasonal flu shot, this week. The updated Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, recently approved by the European Medicines Agency, will be used in the rollout.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the use of two updated COVID-19 booster shots - the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The new jabs target the dominant BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants and have been authorized ahead of an autumn vaccination campaign. They also target the original version of the virus.

The FDA authorized the shots for everyone aged 12 and older who has had a primary vaccination series and is at least two months out from a previous booster shot - shorter than prior recommended intervals.

Dr. Peter Marks, a senior FDA official overseeing vaccines, said he hopes the shots will restore the very good protection against symptomatic disease that the original vaccines offered.

China's southern tech hub of Shenzhen said it will adopt tiered anti-COVID-19 restrictions starting on 5 August, while the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu announced an extension of lockdown curbs.

Shenzen went into lockdown on 3 August and has announced a new round of testing. It said it would "marshal all available resources, mobilize all forces, and take all possible measures" to stamp out the pandemic.

An official in Shenzen, home to 18 million people, said the risks were still considerable.

"Currently, the city's COVID-19 situation is severe and complex. The number of new infections remains relatively high and community transmission risk still exists," Lin Hancheng, a Shenzhen public health official, told a news conference late on 4 August.

Chengdu placed its 21 million people under lockdown on 1 August said curbs would stay in place for most of the city, with mass testing taking place 5-6 August.

Currently, 33 cities are under partial or full lockdowns, affecting more than 65 million residents, according to an estimate by Chinese financial magazine Caixin.