COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 14 October

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 239.1 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.87 million. More than 6.56 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

New Zealand has reported its biggest rise in COVID-19 infections in six weeks - with all the cases identified in Auckland.

Melbourne, Australia will exit months of COVID-19 lockdown next week, helped by quicker-than-expected vaccine rollout. The news came on the same day as daily infections hit a record high.

COVID-19 infections in children in England rose in September after schools returned from summer holidays, keeping cases high even as there was a fall among adults, a large prevalence study showed on Thursday.

A new study suggests that those who had the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine as a first shot had a stronger immune response when boosted with Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines.

The United States will ship 2.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan today.

World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries and companies controlling COVID-19 vaccine supply to prioritize getting supplies to COVAX.

Russia's Sputnik Light vaccine shows 70% effectiveness against the Delta variant 3 months after injection, the country's sovereign wealth fund announced yesterday.

Nigeria will require civil servants to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test for the disease to gain access to their offices from the beginning of December.

The Pan American Health Organization said yesterday that COVID-19 cases are dropping overall in North and South America. However, there are areas where infections remain high or rising, including the American Midwest, the greater Caracas area of Venezuela and parts of Chile.

In the Caribbean, Barbados is reporting the highest number of COVID cases and deaths since the pandemic started, with a five-fold increase in COVID infections over the last month, PAHO said.

The organization called for action to help every country in the Americas reach the WHO's target to vaccinate 40% of the population in every country by the end of the year.

India has resumed a small number of exports of COVID-19 vaccines and will significantly increase volume in the coming months, officials said yesterday. It comes as domestic stocks build up and most of its own population is inoculated.

One million shots of Covaxin produced by Indian company Bharat Biotech were shipped to Iran last week, the Indian embassy in Tehran said. Vaccines have also been sent to Nepal, a government source said, adding that the effort is focused on neighbouring nations.

"A huge, huge availability of vaccines can be visualised for next year, we expect vaccines made in India to play a significant role in dealing with the pandemic across the world," said V.K. Paul, who heads the government's task force on COVID-19.