BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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KATHMANDU -- The Nepali government on Monday confirmed that three people who had come to Nepal from Britain had tested positive for a new variant of coronavirus first identified in Britain.

The new strain of the coronavirus is said to be 70 percent more infectious and it has spread in several countries across the world.

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SHIJIAZHUANG -- Authorities have classified two more areas as high-risk for COVID-19 in north China's Hebei Province.

Starting on Monday, the cities of Xinle under Shijiazhuang and Nangong under Xingtai will upgrade to high-risk areas, announced the provincial health commission.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Minister for Defense Ng Eng Hen confirmed here Monday that the Shangri-La Dialogue, also known as Asia Security Summit, will resume this year.

The Shangri-La Dialogue will resume this year, "as more effective safety measures are in place and vaccinations ongoing," he said in a Facebook post.

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BAKU -- Azerbaijan's senior health officials on Monday took their first inoculations of a vaccine made by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, marking the beginning of mass vaccination against COVID-19 in the country, according to state-run news agency AZERTAC.

Azerbaijani Health Minister Ogtay Shiraliyev and his deputies, as well as other health officials, were among the first to be vaccinated by what Shahmar Movsumov, an assistant to the president of Azerbaijan, earlier described as "the most safe and effective vaccine" procured by Azerbaijan.

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MINSK -- Belarus reported 1,899 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking its total to 227,360, according to the country's health ministry.

There have been 1,571 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 210,779, the ministry added.

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STOCKHOLM -- Sweden logged 361 COVID-19 cases at workplaces last week, the highest weekly number since the pandemic broke out, according to the Swedish Work Environment Authority's statistics on Monday.

Swedish Television quoted Ulrika Scholander, section manager at the Swedish Work Environment Authority, as saying on Monday that the situation is "worrying."

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JAKARTA -- The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 9,086 in the past 24 hours to 917,015, with the death toll adding by 295 to 26,282, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 9,475 more patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 745,935.

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JAKARTA -- As many as 38 more doctors died of COVID-19 in Indonesia from Jan. 1 to 16 this year, bringing the death toll of this group during the pandemic to 278, the Indonesian Medical Association said on Monday.

Of the 278 doctors, 156 were general practitioners, 117 were specialists and five were residents. Enditem

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