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

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 107.3 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 2.35 million.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau that India would do its best to supply Canada with vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially easing shortages faced in the country.

New York state will allow large stadiums and arenas to stage events beginning on 23 Feb at 10% capacity, so long as the state’s Department of Health signs off on its safety plans, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

The Philippines is set to receive 600,000 doses this month of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine, donated by China. A portion of this will be used to inoculate military personnel, according to a senior government official.

China reported just two new cases on Thursday, which is the lowest in five months, according to official data.

Argentina surpassed 2 million COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with 7,739 new cases. This brings the total number of infections to 2,001,034, and 49,674 deaths.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that people who have been given full doses of the coronavirus vaccine no longer need to quarantine after exposure to someone with the COVID-19 disease.

Malaysia will extend its free COVID-19 vaccination programme to all foreigners residing in the country, including students, refugees and undocumented migrants, the government said on Thursday.

2. Global COVID-19 cases have fallen by 17% in the past week, according to WHO

The latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the number of new worldwide COVID-19 cases has declined for a fourth week in a row.

Over 3.1 million new cases were reported last week, according to the WHO's weekly update. This was a 17% decrease from the week before and the lowest number of worldwide cases since the week of 26 October.

The number of deaths reported last week fell by 10% compared to the previous week, with 88,000 overall.

"Although there are still many countries with increasing numbers of cases, at the global level, this trend is encouraging," the weekly update said.

3. Britain's Kent coronavirus variant could "sweep the world", says UK expert

Sharon Peacock, Director of the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium, has voiced concerns regarding the Kent variant's ability to spread worldwide, and the possibility that it and other variants could undermine the effectiveness of vaccines in the future.

“What’s concerning about this is that the 1.1.7. variant that we have had circulating for some weeks and months is beginning to mutate again and get new mutations which could affect the way that we handle the virus in terms of immunity and effectiveness of vaccines,” Peacock told the BBC.

She also predicted that COVID-19 could be a part of our lives for the next decade, as new variants continue to emerge.

“Once we get on top of (the virus) or it mutates itself out of being virulent - causing disease - then we can stop worrying about it. But I think, looking in the future, we’re going to be doing this for years. We’re still going to be doing this 10 years down the line, in my view.”