The head of an Indian company contracted to make AstraZeneca Plc's -19 vaccine said India could get access to it by January, as the country's total infections crossed nine million. Mass production of Russia's second vaccine could begin in 2021.
Europe* Britain could ease its stringent lockdown to allow families to gather for Christmas because there are signs that cases are starting to flatten.
* Some Russian hospitals are experiencing serious shortages of drugs used to treat -19 and cannot restock because of panic buying, high demand and problems with a new labelling system.
* Ukraine said it hoped to receive 8 million doses of a -19 vaccine in the first half of next year as it reported another daily record of 14,575 new cases.
* Public meetings of more than 20 people will be banned in the Helsinki region, Finnish authorities said.
* Patriarch Irinej, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, has died after contracting the coronavirus.
Americas
* California and Ohio ordered nightly curfews on social gatherings as the number of patients hospitalized in the United States jumped nearly 50% in two weeks.
* US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called for an end to pandemic relief for struggling businesses.
* Mexico registered 100,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths within days of passing one million infections.
* The coronavirus has spread rapidly through Brazil's largest indigenous reservation and more than a third of its 27,000 people could have been exposed.
Asia-Pacific
* South Australia's six-day lockdown was triggered by a "lie" to contact tracers from a man who tested positive and restrictions across the state are set to be lifted much sooner than first planned.
* South Korea's prime minister pleaded with the public to avoid social gatherings and warned that tougher measures may be needed if infections are not quickly contained.
* Hong Kong reported a spike in daily cases to 26, two days before an arrangement with Singapore to allow a limited number of passengers to fly both ways without having to go through quarantine kicks in.
Middle East and Africa
* Turkey will sign a contract within days to buy at least 20 million doses of a -19 candidate vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech.
* Jordan is racing to increase hospital bed capacity as its healthcare system struggles to cope with a surge in new coronavirus cases.
Medical developments
* World Health Organization advised against the use of Gilead's remdesivir in hospitalised patients with -19.
* The US Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of Eli Lilly's arthritis drug, baricitinib, in combination with remdesivir to treat -19 patients.
* AstraZeneca and Oxford University's potential vaccine produced a strong immune response in older adults, data published on Thursday showed.
Economic impact
* World stocks edged higher as hopes of economic recovery ahead helped offset the blow dealt by news that the US Treasury was ending emergency loan programmes.
* The World Trade Organization said global goods trade had rebounded sharply in the third quarter from lockdowns, but forecast a slowdown at the end of 2020.
* African countries face another debt crisis and will need more long-term help than the latest G20 debt plan offers them to ward off trouble ahead and keep much-needed investments coming in.
