The worldwide death toll from coronavirus approached two million on Friday, with Europe topping 30 million infections and World Health Organization (WHO) experts working on advice to fight new, more contagious variants of the disease.
The soaring number of fatalities -- 1,994,833 -- is matched by the spread of infections with Europe recording 30,003,905 cases, nearly a third of the worldwide total, according to an AFP tally based on official statistics.
Adding to the run of terrible milestones, Germany, Europe's biggest economy, hit two million infections.
Many countries are doubling down on virus restrictions, with vaccination drives still in their infancy.
Portugal entered a fresh lockdown on Friday while Britain began requiring negative tests for entry, and fresh curbs on populations were announced from Brazil to Lebanon.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a "significant" tightening of curbs to slow the infection rate as the European Union's most populous country added more than 22,000 new cases.
The virus could only be stopped with "significant additional measures" and people urgently needed to reduce social contact, Merkel reportedly said.
'Worrying'
Germany has fared better than many of its European neighbours in the pandemic, with France, Italy, Spain and Britain all recording more infections despite smaller populations.
Britain on Thursday said it would ban all arrivals from South American countries from on Friday, over fears of importing a new coronavirus variant.
The new variant, known as E484K, has raised alarm among researchers over its possible impact on immunity.
Partly over fears of new variants, France said it would impose a daily nationwide curfew at six pm starting on Saturday and remaining in force for at least two weeks.
Most of France had already been under a 8pm, local time, curfew with some areas, especially in the hard-hit east, already under the 6pm limit.
Brazil's northern Amazonas state also announced a curfew from 7pm-6am, local time, as the health system is pushed to breaking point in the state capital Manaus.
Global health experts were expected on Friday to issue recommendations to stem the spread of this variant and other new variants, which the WHO called "worrying."
Villagers quarantined
Chinese media reports over 20,000 residents from villages around Shijiazhuang -- about 294km southwest of Beijing -- have been sent to state-run quarantine facilities.
Scientists see large-scale vaccination as the way out of the crisis but 95% of doses so far administered have been limited to just 10 countries, according to the WHO.
Progress on administering vaccines has often been slow.
India's mammoth immunization program will begin on Saturday. In the United States around 10 million people have received a first shot.
