Iraq reports its first five cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the northern city of Duhok, in Iraqi Kurdistan. 2022-01-6
North Macedonia receives 30,000 doses of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine donated by Turkey. 2021-06-9
The World Health Organization announces a new system of naming the COVID-19 variants using the Greek alphabet in order to avoid stigmatizing countries where variants are first detected. According to the new system, B.1.1.7 becomes Alpha, B.1.351 becomes Beta, and P.1 becomes Gamma. Meanwhile B.1.617, which split into sub-lineage B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2, is called Kappa and Delta respectively. 2021-05-31
U.S. President Joe Biden orders intelligence agencies to increase their investigations into the origin of the virus, following reports that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill a month before the pandemic began. 2021-05-26
The Philippines receives its first shipment of 600,000 doses of the Sinovac CoronaVac donated by China. 2021-02-28
Northern Ireland enters a six-week lockdown in an effort to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections. All "non-essential" shops and businesses will be closed, while "essential" shops must close each day by 20:00 GMT during the first week of the lockdown. No gatherings will be allowed between 20:00 and 6:00 each day, and anyone travelling to Northern Ireland must self-isolate for at least 10 days. 2020-12-26
Belgium bans entry for incoming rail and air passengers from the United Kingdom for at least 24 hours, beginning at midnight. Virologist Marc Van Ranst said yesterday that a variant of SARS-COV-2 from the United Kingdom had been found in four cases from a sample of 2,000 analyses in his laboratory. 2020-12-20
Spain exceeds one million cases of COVID-19, becoming the first country in the EU to do so. 2020-10-21
King Felipe VI of Spain addresses the nation in a special speech for the second time in his reign, and the sixth by a monarch in the democracy’s 40 years. Focusing on the coronavirus pandemic, he gives his appreciation for the work of health personnel and calls for a break in differences, stating that Spaniards can "defeat this crisis" through unification. 2020-03-18