Israel’s PM Naftali Bennett on Thursday announced that the country would offer a coronavirus booster to people over 60 who have already been vaccinated, news wires reported. The decision makes Israel, which launched one of the world’s most successful vaccination drives earlier this year, the first country to offer a third dose of a Western vaccine to its citizens on a wide scale. The move comes at a time of rising infections and signs that the vaccine’s efficacy dwindles over time.

Greece's south Aegean islands were marked dark red on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's Covid-19 map on Thursday after a rise in infections, meaning all but essential travel to and from the region is discouraged, Reuters reported. The cluster of 13 islands includes Greece's most popular destinations for foreign tourists - Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes - which, combined, draw millions of people every summer.

President Joe Biden called on states, territories and local governments to do more to incentivise Covid-19 vaccination by offering $100 to those who get vaccinated and reimbursing small- and medium-sized businesses for offering their employees paid leave to get their family members vaccinated, news wires reported. "I know that paying people to get vaccinated might sound unfair to folks who have gotten vaccinated already. But here's the deal, if incentives help us beat this virus, I believe we should use them," Biden said on Thursday.

Japanese officials sounded the alarm on Thursday after the announcement of record-breaking coronavirus cases for the third straight day in Tokyo with the Olympics well underway, news wires reported. “We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters. He said the new cases were soaring not only in the Tokyo area but across the country.

Fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter Britain without quarantining starting next week, UK officials said Wednesday, AP reported. The British government said people who have received both doses of a vaccine approved by the FDA in the US or by the European Medicines Agency, which regulates drugs for the European Union and several other countries, will be able to take pre- and post-arrival coronavirus tests instead of self-isolating for 10 days after entering England.

People vaccinated against Covid-19 in high-risk parts of the United States should resume wearing masks indoors, the top health authority said Tuesday, a major reversal in guidance that underscored the country's struggle to suppress the Delta variant, AFP reported. President Joe Biden said the announcement showed that America needs to "do better" on vaccinations, adding that a vaccine mandate for the country's more than two million federal workers was now "under consideration."

Britain registered lower coronavirus case numbers for seven days in a row on Tuesday, a decline that has surprised officials and experts. However, PM Boris Johnson called for caution, news wires reported. Recorded infection rates across the UK have dropped for seven consecutive days with 23,511 new cases announced on Tuesday compared to 46,558 a week earlier -- a fall of nearly 50%.

EU is among the world leaders in vaccination process, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. „Our target was to protect 70% of adults in the European Union with at least one vaccination in July. Today we have achieved this target. And 57% of adults already have the full protection of double vaccination“, she said in a statement, pointing out that these figures put Europe among the world leaders.

German politicians were deeply divided on Sunday over a warning by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun that restrictions for unvaccinated people may be necessary if Covid-19 infection numbers reach new heights in the coming months, AP reported. Braun told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag that he doesn’t expect another coronavirus-related lockdown in Germany. But he said that unvaccinated people may be barred from entering venues like restaurants, movie theaters or sports stadiums “because the residual risk is too high.”

France's parliament approved a law early Monday requiring special virus passes for all restaurants and domestic travel and mandating vaccinations for all health workers, AP reported. Both measures have prompted protests and political tensions. The law requires all workers in the health care sector to start getting vaccinated by 15 September, or risk suspension.