BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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SANTIAGO -- Chile announced on Sunday the third consecutive day of more than 5,000 daily cases of COVID-19, with 5,280 cases, bringing the total to 855,785, the Ministry of Health reported.

The ministry also reported another 69 deaths, bringing the death toll to 21,077, and said that 28,557 people are currently in the active stage of the disease.

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KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwait reported on Sunday 1,144 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 200,572.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced seven more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,127. The tally of recoveries nationwide rose by 956 to 186,187, while 13,258 coronavirus-related patients were receiving treatment.

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KATHMANDU -- Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday as the government started the second phase of vaccination drive against COVID-19 in the Himalayan country.

"Prime Minister Oli along with his wife Radhika Shakya received the vaccine at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu," the Prime Minister's Personal Secretariat said in a press statement on Sunday.

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LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the reopening of schools in England as a "national effort" to beat coronavirus, even though some experts warned Britain is still not "out of the woods", local media reported Sunday.

"The reopening of schools marks a truly national effort to beat this virus," Johnson told Sky News.

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BEIJING -- China's homegrown recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine, recently approved for use in Uzbekistan, is expected to be another "powerful weapon" in fighting the global pandemic, a senior Chinese CDC official has said.

The vaccine has a relatively simple production process, a high output and is easy to store and transport due to its relatively low storage requirements, said Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the country's top political advisory body.

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NAIROBI -- COVID-19 is exacerbating inequities associated with gender in several key spheres of life and development, Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa said in a statement issued in Nairobi ahead of International Women's Day to be marked on March 8.

WHO said that African women bore the brunt of income losses, social marginalization, and health risks that escalated at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the continent. Moeti pointed out that the pandemic's aftershocks had a disproportionate impact on women and girls in the continent amid the absence of a robust safety net to minimize their vulnerabilities. Enditem

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