What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: Johnson urges global treaty on tracking pandemics

World powers should clinch a global treaty on pandemics to ensure proper transparency after the novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in China, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. Asked by Reuters about any action he wanted to improve transparency, Johnson said: "I think what the world needs to see is a general agreement on how we track data surrounding zoonotic pandemics ... and we want a joint agreement on transparency." As part of Britain's presidency of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations, Johnson wants to lead efforts on a global approach to pandemics, including an early warning system.

Cuomo acknowledges withholding NY nursing home death toll New York Governor Andrew Cuomo acknowledged on Monday that his office should not have withheld data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths from state lawmakers, the public and press - falling short of an apology a senior aide made to lawmakers last week.

More than 15,000 people have died in New York state's nursing homes and long term care facilities from COVID-19, but as recently as last month, the state reported only 8,500 deaths. Syringe shortage hampers Japan's vaccination roll-out

Fears are growing in Japan, where an inoculation drive against COVID-19 will begin on Wednesday, that millions of doses of Pfizer vaccine could be wasted due to a shortage of special syringes that maximise the number of shots used from each vial. The government has made urgent requests, but manufacturers are struggling to ramp up production fast enough, creating the latest headache for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who suffers from weak public support.

S.Korea strikes new vaccine deals for 23 mln people South Korea has arranged to buy coronavirus vaccines for 23 million more people, its prime minister said on Tuesday, a day after authorities decided to scale back initial vaccination plans, citing delays and efficacy concerns.

Preparing for an inoculation drive that is set to begin on Feb. 26, South Korea had already secured supply agreements for enough doses for 56 million people for its 52 million strong population. But the vaccination programme is set to get off to a slower start, as some of the vaccines acquired have not yet proven sufficiently effective against new strains of COVID-19, while some manufacturers may not be able to deliver on time due to production problems.