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

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 179.6 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 3.89 million. More than 2.75 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

The US Food and Drug Administration is planning to add a warning about rare cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults to fact sheets for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Authorities said, though, that the benefits of the shots appear to clearly outweigh the risk.

The AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines remain broadly effective against the Delta and Kappa variants of COVID-19, according to a new study.

The US National Institutes of Health said yesterday it's begun a study to evaluate the immune responses generated in pregnant or postpartum women by COVID-19 vaccines.

Singapore is developing a plan to live more normally with COVID-19. The road map is being developed on the expectation that the virus will become endemic like influenza.

Over two million people in England might have had long COVID, and suffered symptoms that lasted 12 weeks or more, a study has found.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said that the Delta variant will represent 90% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses circulating in the European Union by the end of August.

The US is sending 3 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to Brazil.

Brazil recorded 115,228 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 24-hour period up to Wednesday, the Health Ministry said - a single-day record for the country.

The country has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll. Only the United States has recorded more deaths.

Brazil and many of its South American neighbours are fighting renewed increases in cases, even as vaccines are rolled out. Data complied by Reuters shows that Brazil's seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases and deaths is now the highest in the world.

New South Wales - Australia's most populous state - has reported a double-digit rise in new locally acquired COVID-19 cases for the third straight day.

"Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Authorities have imposed tough restrictions in Sydney, with mandatory indoor mask-wearing introduced and restrictions on travel and gatherings.

Other Australian states have closed their borders to NSW or introduced new border rules, with Western Australia state premier calling on NSW officials to "crush and kill" the virus and warning against "light touch" restrictions.