Discoveries of exoplanets Astronomers announce the discovery of HD 110082 b, a sub-Neptune exoplanet that is three times larger than Earth and which orbits a relatively young star.
2021 Myanmar protests Protesters in the capital Naypyidaw, Mandalay, and the country's largest city Yangon stage a record number of demonstrations against military junta since February 1 coup. Many of public and private employees and civil servant join demonstrations despite military's warning.
Maryland reports their first case of the Lineage P.1 variant first detected in Brazil in a deceased adult aged older than 65 living in Washington metropolitan area, who had international travel.
South Africa begins its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 using a vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, which has not yet been authorized worldwide. President Cyril Ramaphosa, government officials, and health workers are among the first to receive the vaccine.
Somalia orders all government employees in ministries and departments except directors and senior staff to work from home following an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The European Commission signs a deal with Moderna to secure additional 300 million doses of the vaccine in the European Union.
The British clinical trials ethics body approves the world's first COVID-19 human challenge study, which will begin in the next few weeks. Volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be exposed to the virus in the trial.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces that the country will gradually lift COVID-19 restrictions, including curfews and weekend lockdowns beginning in March on a provincial basis, which will divide the country into four categories based on infection and vaccination rates.
The Spanish Health Ministry introduces a ten-day quarantine for all travelers arriving from Brazil and South Africa.
The first shipment of the Sputnik V vaccine donated by Russia arrives in Gaza after Israel allows the shipment of 1,000 vaccines, which was previously blocked.
The Israeli Maccabi Healthcare Services confirm that, in a trial of 602,000 people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the vaccine's effectiveness was 95%.
The Indian government issues new Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) guidelines that would be mandatory for travelers from the United Kingdom, Europe, Brazil, and South Africa to conduct self-paid molecular COVID-19 testing, beginning from February 22 at 23:59 p.m. IST.
Kagara kidnapping A school pupil is killed and 27 others are kidnapped from their school in the early hours in Kagara, Niger State, Nigeria. Three staff members and 12 of their relatives are also abducted. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.