Coronavirus: Latest global developments

PARIS: Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- US booster shots -

Around 60 million people in the US are now eligible for a Pfizer booster shot against Covid-19, President Joe Biden says, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overrules its own panel of health experts on the issue.

- After 561 days, back to normal -

Norway will on Saturday lift almost all the restrictions imposed in March 2020 to fight against Covid-19, the government announces.

- Pakistan debt extended -

The Paris Club of creditor countries gives Pakistan another extension, until December, to service its debt so that it can dedicate its resources to combatting the Covid pandemic. It does not give a figure.

- End of Tunisian curfew -

Tunisian President Kais Saied announces the lifting on Sunday of a nighttime curfew in place since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but imposes vaccine certificates for public events.

- Cuban bars, restaurants to reopen -

Bars and restaurants, closed since January, will reopen gradually from Friday in eight of Cuba's 15 provinces, including the capital Havana.

- Berlin Marathon -

Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele vows to attack the men's world marathon record in Berlin on Sunday, just nine months after recovering from Covid-19. The marathon will be the first major race to have a mass start since the virus struck.

- 4.7 million dead -

The coronavirus has killed at least 4,725,638 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

The US is the worst-affected country with 648,357 deaths, followed by Brazil with 592,964, India with 446,368, Mexico with 274,139 and Russia with 202,273.

Based on the latest reports, the countries with the newest deaths were the United States with 3,159, followed by Russia with 828 -- a new record -- and Mexico with 748.