IKEA was forced to change its business model from selling mostly in person to operating mostly online in just a couple of weeks because of the pandemic. /AP/ Mark Schiefelbein

· IKEA employees will receive $128 million in bonuses because of their work during the pandemic, according to Ingka Group, the holding company that operates many of IKEA's stores.

The bonuses will vary depending on the employee's salary and will be on top of the company's annual bonus.

· A clinical trial for a vaccine pill has been approved by South Africa, according to the Israeli pharmaceutical company Oramed. This will be the first oral vaccine trial hosted in South Africa, though other more traditional COVID-19 vaccines have been tested in the country.

An oral version of the vaccine is attractive to some because they are easier to administer and could help people afraid of needles.

· Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on course to be re-elected as the head of the World Health Organization after heading the organization through the worst global health crisis in the past century. He is the only candidate and will serve another five years.

· Trials are taking place for COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered via a patch rather than needle. A joint Australian-U.S. study published in the journal Science Advances, showed promising results of the patches on mice. Australian company Vaxxas, which is the furthest along, hopes to have human trials from April.

· Officials in Beijing have cancelled around half of all flights going through the city's two main airports after a handful of people tested positive and flare-ups of cases were reported in a dozen regions linked to tourists. The city's residents have also been told to keep funeral ceremonies short and postpone weddings.

· An estimated 44,265 people died with COVID-19 in Russia in September, a slight decrease from the country's peak of 51,044 deaths in July, according to the country's state statistics service Rosstat.

The figure is almost double the figure published by the Russian coronavirus task force. That is because Rosstat reports its figures every month and factors in data from medical examiners, while the task force announces it every day and only includes cases where the coronavirus is established as the primary cause of death after an autopsy. 

· Almost 5 million people have died because of the pandemic since December 2019, according to AFP. The U.S. has the highest toll, at 457,191 deaths in that period. It was followed by Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia.

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CGTN Africa: Only 5 African countries may fully vaccinate 40% of population by year-end