What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the pandemic right now: China's capital sharpens COVID screening

Beijing closed some schools and public spaces on Thursday as most of the Chinese capital's 22 million residents turned up for more mass COVID-19 testing aimed at averting a Shanghai-like lockdown. Most people in Shanghai were one month into stressful home isolation, struggling to meet basic needs. But there was hope on the horizon as the number of new cases declined further and officials said their focus was shifting towards boosting vaccinations among the elderly.

Fears were growing, however, that China would be trapped in a whack-a-mole game in the coming months, lifting lockdowns in some places, while imposing others elsewhere. The COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai has again raised questions about China's official data - especially a death rate that despite a recent jump, remains far lower than elsewhere.

Taiwan's daily cases top 10,000 for the first time Taiwan reported on Thursday that the daily number of confirmed domestic COVID-19 cases had topped 10,000 for the first time, in line with predictions, and the health minister said infections would continue to rise.

Taiwan, population 23 million, has reported a spike in cases since the start of the year - 51,504 so far - after having previously well-controlled the pandemic with tight border controls and tough quarantines. Africa seeing an uptick in cases driven by South Africa

Africa is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 infections largely driven by a doubling in cases reported in South Africa, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. "This week new COVID-19 cases and deaths on the continent increased for the first time after a decline of more than two months for cases and one month for deaths," Benito Impouma, director for communicable and non-communicable diseases at the WHO's Africa office, told an online news conference.

EU estimates up to 80% of the population has had COVID The European Commission said that between 60% and 80% of the EU population was estimated to have been infected with COVID-19, as the bloc enters a post-emergency phase in which mass reporting of cases is no longer necessary.

In preparing for this less acute phase, European Union governments should ramp up COVID-19 immunizations of children, the bloc's executive body said, signaling it was considering plans to develop antivirals. Moderna files for U.S. authorization of COVID shot for kids under 6

Moderna said on Thursday it asked U.S. regulators to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for those under 5 years old. The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is authorized for children 5 and older. But their trial results for 2- to 4-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test the third dose.

UK's transfer of old patients to care homes in pandemic was unlawful -court Britain's government acted unlawfully early in the pandemic when it moved elderly patients from hospitals to care homes without considering that people without symptoms could spread the virus, a court found on Wednesday.

Britain's coronavirus death toll soared during early 2020, outstripping its European peers and boosted by the deaths of elderly people, many of whom had been moved out of the hospital into residential care to make room for COVID patients.