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

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 446.2 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.99 million. More than 10.85 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Mainland China has logged its highest number of daily new local symptomatic COVID-19 infections in about two years.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday that 93% of the US population now live in areas where COVID-19 levels are low enough that people do not need to wear masks indoors.

South Korea reported a daily record rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths on Friday, with 266,853 and 186, respectively.

Pfizer is expected to provide around 10 million courses of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid to low- and middle-income countries this year, according to an official with the Global Fund, a healthcare NGO working to buy the pills from the drugmaker.

A World Health Organization expert panel has backed the use of Merck's COVID-19 antiviral pill for high-risk patients.

Germany will provide a further $1.5 billion to a global initiative for better access to COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said last Tuesday.

Countries around the world continue to ease their COVID-19 restrictions.

Belgium will relax almost all its remaining restrictions from today, including requirements to wear masks indoors and the need to show a COVID-19 pass for indoor venues from cafes to sports halls.

"I think it is an important page that we are turning. It is a symbol principally of our resilience and perseverance faced with a pandemic that gave us little chance to rest," Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference.

Turkey also eased similar restrictions last Wednesday, ending the need to wear masks indoors or outdoors where there is enough ventilation. A contact tracing app code will no longer be needed when entering places such as shopping malls or public institutions.

In France, rules requiring people to show a COVID-19 vaccine passport to access venues will be lifted from 14 March. However, it will remain in place for access to elderly home care centres.

And in Greece, a requirement to wear masks outdoors was lifted from Saturday.

Almost a third of people report at least one ongoing symptom between six and 12 months after their COVID-19 infection, a survey of 152,000 people in Denmark has found.

The study – which is yet to be peer-reviewed – includes one of the largest groups yet of people who were not hospitalized with COVID, and followed them for longer than other major studies, the researchers from Denmark's State Serum Institute said.

The questionnaire-based study suggests that the most commonly reported long-term symptoms are changes in sense of smell and taste, as well as fatigue.

Separately, a small US study of patients suffering from persistent symptoms long after COVID-19 found that nearly 60% had nerve damage possibly caused by a defective immune response – a finding that could point to new treatments.

The study involved in-depth examinations of 17 people with so-called long COVID, a condition that arises within three months of a COVID-19 infection and lasts at least two months.

"I think what's going on here is that the nerves that control things like our breathing, blood vessels and our digestion in some cases are damaged in these long COVID patients," said Dr Anne Louise Oaklander, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a lead author on the study published in Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation.