COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 4 November

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 248.2 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.02 million. More than 7.15 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

China is on high alert at its ports of entry as strict policies on travel in and out of the country are enforced to reduce COVID-19 risks amid a fresh domestic outbreak, less than 100 days from the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The National Immigration Administration said on Thursday it would continue to guide citizens not to go abroad for non-urgent and non-essential reasons.

COVID-19 prevalence in England rose to its highest level on record in October, Imperial College London said on Thursday, led by a high numbers of cases in children and a surge in the south-west of the country.

South Korea opened COVID-19 quarantine centres on Thursday to house potentially thousands of teenagers with COVID-19 ahead of the country's gruelling eight-hour college entrance exam in two weeks.

There will be enough COVID-19 vaccines for children by next week, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, after the country started the roll-out to children aged 5 to 11. The shots will be available at about 20,000 locations around the country.

Competitors in next year's Boston Marathon must provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine, organizers said, adding to a growing list of major sport events where inoculation is mandatory for participation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had approved Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for the shot to be accepted as a valid vaccine in many poor countries.

"The Technical Advisory Group has determined that the Covaxin vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against COVID-19, that the benefit of the vaccine far outweighs risks and the vaccine can be used," WHO said in a tweet.

The WHO's advisory group was expected to make a decision on Covaxin last week, but asked for additional clarifications from Bharat Biotech before conducting a final risk-benefit assessment for the vaccine's global use.

Covaxin was also reviewed by WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, which recommended its use in two doses, with an interval of four weeks, in all age groups 18 and above.

The emergency use listing would allow Bharat to ship the vaccine to countries that rely on WHO guidance for their regulatory decisions. The nod also means that the shot may be accepted as a valid vaccine for millions of Indians who have received it and want to travel outside the country.

Germany reported 33,949 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic, ahead of a two-day meeting of state health ministers starting on Thursday.

Countries across Europe have been reporting rises in coronavirus infections, prompting debate over whether to reintroduce restrictions and how to persuade more people to get vaccinated.

The daily number of cases was likely inflated by a public holiday in parts of Germany on Monday that led to a delay in data-gathering. The previous record was on 18 December, with 33,777 cases.

Helge Braun, chief of staff to acting Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that German states needed to make faster progress in giving older people booster shots.

"That should have happened long ago," he told broadcaster ZDF on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, only 6.7% of people over 60 in Germany had received a booster shot, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

Older people were also more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19. The number of infected people in hospital stood at 3.62 per 100,000 on Wednesday - up from 1.65 in early October - but at 8.27 per 100,000 for those over 60.