COVID-19 updates: Vaccine for less than 10 euros

A vaccine being developed by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi with British multinational GSK will cost "less than 10 euros a dose", says Olivier Bogillot, head of Sanofi France.

A vaccine being developed by Astrazeneca will cost 2.5 euros a dose.

India passes four million cases

India becomes the world's third country to pass four million coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge in cases as the crisis shows no sign of peaking.

The 86,432 new cases take India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States which has more than 6.3 million and just trailing Brazil on 4.1 million.

India now has the world's fastest growing number of cases at more than 80,000 a day and the highest daily death toll at more than 1,000.

More than 875,000 dead

The pandemic has killed at least 875,982 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to an AFP count at 1900 GMT Saturday based on official sources.

More than 26.6 million cases have been registered worldwide.

The United States has recorded the highest number of deaths with 187,777, followed by Brazil with 125,502, India with 69,561, Mexico 66,851 and Britain 41,549 fatalities.

Demos in Croatia, Italy

Several thousand people rally in the main square of the Croatian capital Zagreb to protest against coronavirus curbs.  

They carry banners proclaiming: "Covid is a lie, we are not all covidiots," and "Take off the mask, turn off the TV, live a full life".

About 1,000 protesters demonstrate in central Rome against the mandatory use of face masks. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte reacts frostily to the event, saying: "More than 274,000 ill and 35,000 dead. Full stop."

Anti-lockdown protest

Ignoring official warnings and public health orders, several hundred people gather in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, at an illegal protest calling for an end to lockdown measures. 

Police arrest 17 people for deliberately flouting the city's stay-at-home orders.

Iran resumes school year

Iran reopens the school year after nearly six months, with about 15 million pupils returning to class, mostly remotely.

President Hassan Rouhani appears in a video to inaugurate the new academic year at a school -- a break with tradition that draws criticism.

"Rouhani rang the bell (to start the school year) remotely, then he expects me to send my son in person?" reformist journalist Maziar Khosravi tweets.

Berlusconi 'stable'

Italy's flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is "stable", two days after being hospitalised, his doctor says.

The 83-year-old media tycoon tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week after returning from a holiday at his luxury villa on Sardinia's jet-set Emerald Coast.