World's Highest Covid Cases Daily : India

India reported a colossal 314,835 new cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase recorded anywhere in the world, as a wave and similar surges elsewhere in the world raises new fears about the virus.

Hospitals across northern and western India including the capital, New Delhi, have issued notices to say they have only a few hours of medical oxygen required to keep patients alive.

More than two-thirds of hospitals had no vacant beds, according to the Delhi government's online database and doctors advised patients to stay at home.

India's total cases are now at 15. 93 million, while deaths rose by 2,104 to reach a total of 184,657, according to the latest health ministry data.

Thailand reported seven new deaths, its highest number of fatalities in a single day since the pandemic started, authorities said, as the country deals with its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet.

So far 117 people have died in Thailand due to Covid-19. It also reported 1,470 new coronavirus cases, taking total infections to 48,113. 

Singapore and Hong Kong called off an announcement for an air travel bubble between Asia's two major financial hubs, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.

The two cities delayed in December an air travel bubble because of a spike in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

Ecuador implemented a nighttime curfew and other mobility restrictions as a spike in cases again overwhelms hospitals in the Andean country, which in 2020 experienced one of the region's worst outbreaks.

In 16 of the country's 24 provinces, only workers in the healthcare, food, and other sectors deemed essential will be allowed to circulate over weekends and during evenings from Monday through Thursday, according to the decree signed by President Lenin Moreno.

Britain's Heathrow Airport has refused to allow extra flights from India before the country is added on Friday to Britain's "red-list" of locations from which most travel is banned due to a high number of cases, the airport said.

The move by Britain comes after it detected more than 100 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India, Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Monday.

Heathrow Airport's refusal to allow extra flights from India was reported earlier by the BBC, with the airport adding that it turned down the requests from airlines because of concerns about queues at passport control.

The airport also told Reuters it did not want to exacerbate existing pressures at the border by allowing more passengers to fly in.

Spanish regions are likely to begin using Johnson & Johnson's vaccine to inoculate 70-79-year-olds, Health Minister Carolina Darias said on Wednesday.

Spain has already distributed the first batch of vials to regional health authorities, which are in charge of administering the injections.

An initial shipment of 146,000 doses of the single-shot drug landed in Spain last week but they were impounded in a warehouse on arrival over concerns the vaccines cause a rare type of clotting disorder.