China's President Xi Jinping has promised China will provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, to help the African Union achieve its goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the continent's population by 2022.

The doses include 600 million as a donation and 400 million to be provided through such means as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries, Xi told the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

In addition, China will undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries and send 1,500 medical personnel and public health experts to Africa, Xi said.

· BioNTech said on Monday it had started work on a vaccine tailored to Omicron, the worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa. However, it was not yet clear if it would have to rework its established COVID-19 shot.

· A couple caught trying to escape from COVID-19 quarantine in the Netherlands, after testing positive for the coronavirus, have been transferred to a hospital and held in isolation. 

The pair, a Spanish man and a Portuguese woman, left the hotel where travelers who have tested positive for the virus stay after arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from South Africa. Authorities don't yet know if they tested positive for the Omicron variant. 

· Scotland reported six Omicron cases, some not linked to travel in southern Africa, raising concerns the mutation-heavy coronavirus variant is already spreading in the community.

Britain as a whole has reported nine cases of the new variant. The four nations of the UK have all restricted travel to southern Africa, where the variant was first detected last week, in a bid to slow its spread.

· Swiss voters backed the government's pandemic response plan by a bigger than expected majority in a referendum, paving the way for the continuation of exceptional measures to stem the rising tide of COVID-19 cases.

Some 62.01 percent voted in favor of a law passed earlier this year to provide financial aid to people hit by the COVID-19 crisis and lay the foundation for certificates giving proof of vaccination, recovery, or a negative test. These are currently required to enter bars, restaurants, and particular events.

· The heavily mutated Omicron variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have "severe consequences" in some regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The body added that no Omicron-linked deaths have yet been reported, though further research is needed to assess its potential to escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines and previous infections.

In anticipation of increased case numbers as the variant spreads, the WHO urged the United Nations' 194 member states to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups and ensure plans were in place to maintain health services.

· Czechia's President Milos Zeman appointed the leader of a center-right alliance, Petr Fiala, as prime minister on Sunday in a ceremony he performed from a plexiglass cubicle after testing positive for COVID-19.

Fiala leads a bloc of five center and center-right opposition parties that won an election in October, ousting the incumbent premier Andrej Babis and his allies.

· Portugal detected 13 cases of the Omicron variant, all involving players and staff members of Lisbon soccer club Belenenses SAD after one player recently returned from South Africa.

The new variant was found after Belenenses played a Primeira Liga match against Benfica on Saturday. The game started with only nine Belenenses players on the pitch because the rest of its squad were isolating and only seven returned to the field after half-time. The match was abandoned two minutes into the second half, with Benfica leading 7-0.

· Irish rugby team Munster and Welsh side Cardiff were unable to leave South Africa as planned on Sunday after both returned positive COVID-19 cases. 

Cardiff reported two positive cases, one suspected to be the new variant Omicron, while Munster has one case so far but did not say whether the positive test was the new variant.

· Tennis star Novak Djokovic is unlikely to play at the Australian Open if rules on vaccinations are not relaxed, the world number one's father said.

Organizers of the year's first Grand Slam have said all players will have to be vaccinated to take part.

Djokovic has so far declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated and his father told Serbia's TV Prva that governing body Tennis Australia's stance on players being vaccinated was tantamount to "blackmail."

· Widespread use of COVID-19 certificates and successful vaccine roll-outs helped tourism in the EU recover faster from the pandemic than elsewhere in the world in the third quarter of 2021, a UN report said on Monday.

International tourist arrivals rose 58 percent around the world between July and September compared with the same period in 2020, the UN World Tourism Organization barometer said, though this was 64 percent below the same pre-pandemic period in 2019.

Europe recorded the best relative performance in this period, with international arrivals 53 percent down compared with the same summer season in 2019.

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