COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 24 March

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 124.2 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 2.73 million. More than 458.13 million vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday his administration will have distributed 100 million relief checks as part of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package by today.

A nationwide curfew and other restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 will be extended for another three weeks in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said yesterday.

Travellers from England will face £5,000 ($6,900) fines in new legislation designed to deter non-essential trips.

Norway is introducing new nationwide restrictions to help contain the spread of COVID-19. Measures include a ban on public serving of alcohol and will postpone the introduction of a plan to reopen society, Health Minister Bent Hoeie said on Tuesday.

The number of people with COVID-19 in French intensive care units rose by 84 on Tuesday, to a new 2021 high of 4,634, health ministry data showed.

Spain is relaxing a ban on travel from Britain. From 30 March, travellers with a negative test result will be allowed to travel into Spain - but only for essential health, work or education reasons.

2. COVID-19 cases surging in Brazil

COVID-19 is surging "dangerously" across Brazil, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for the Americas, Carissa Etienne, warned yesterday.

“Unfortunately, the dire situation in Brazil is also affecting neighbouring countries,” Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said in a briefing.

The virus variant known as P1, first discovered in Brazil and which experts caution is more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain, has now been detected in 15 countries in the Americas and become a major cause for concern, according to the PAHO.

3. United Nations Human Rights Council calls for fair, affordable vaccine access

The United Nations Human Rights Council Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for equitable, affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The statement was endorsed by more than 130 countries and adopted by consensus at the Geneva headquarters. It affirmed the right of states to use the flexibility in existing World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines.

“The EU welcomes that the Council is today able to speak with one voice on the issue of equitable, affordable, timely and universal access to vaccines,” said Ambassador Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva.