Four soldiers and two militants are killed during gunfights between the Pakistan Army and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Mir Ali, North Waziristan.
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December 31, 2021 (Friday)
1.8 minutes to read
Armed conflicts and attacks
Six soldiers from Niger and Nigeria are killed and 16 others are wounded during a fight with ISWAP militants in the Lake Chad region of Borno State, Nigeria. Twenty-two militants are also killed and 17 more are captured.
Health and environment
The Philippines reports its first three locally transmitted cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
Hong Kong reports its first potential community cluster of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which are also the first locally transmitted cases reported by the city since June.
France reports a record 232,200 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is also the highest daily total recorded in any European nation since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approves the use of Pfizer's anti-viral oral drug Paxlovid for high-risk patients.
New Zealand moves COVID-19 traffic light settings for Auckland from red to orange, allowing bars, restaurants and cafes that enforce the vaccine pass requirement to remove crowd size limits and requirements to sit down, despite fears of community transmission of the Omicron variant.
Metro Manila moves into Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15 amid an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and the detection of local cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
Paris begins to implement mandatory outdoor mask wearing for people over the age of 11 years. This comes as France reports a substantial increase in new cases of the Omicron variant nationwide.
Cyprus reports a record for the fifth consecutive day of 5,048 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 166,827.
Greece reports a record for the fourth consecutive day of 40,560 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,170,293.
New York reports a new record of 85,476 cases, with 22% of all tests being positive.
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