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2.59pm GMT

Brazil will “quite likely” begin vaccinations to stem the coronavirus pandemic in January or February, the health minister, Eduardo Pazuello, said in a Wednesday interview with CNN Brasil, according to a report by Reuters.

Pazuello said on Tuesday that Brazil had signed a letter of intent to receive 70m Covid-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer starting in January

2.23pm GMT

Oman will exempt nationals of 103 counties from needing an entry visa for a stay of up to 10 days, Reuters reports, in a move to support tourism and shore up its struggling economy.

Visitors must have a confirmed hotel reservation, health insurance and a return ticket, Royal Oman Police said on its Twitter account.

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2.11am GMT

South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as it battles a third wave of infection that is threatening to overwhelm its medical system, Reuters reports.

The daily tally was the second-highest since the start of the pandemic, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. New cases have been consistently around 600 over the past week.

Tougher social distancing rules took effect on Tuesday, including unprecedented curfews on restaurants and most other businesses.

The government has also introduced a new testing method to cater to surging demand, and eased rules to release some recovered patients faster to free up hospital beds.
The government has signed deals with four global drugmakers to procure Covid-19 vaccines for 44 million people.

South Korea’s total infections stand at 39,432, with 556 deaths.

1.53am GMT

Destitution levels in Great Britain are expected to double in the wake of the pandemic with an estimated 2 million families, including a million children, likely to struggle to afford to feed themselves, stay warm, or keep clean as the recession deepens, according to a study.

The estimates, carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), described “increasing, intensifying” levels of extreme poverty experienced by some of the country’s poorest households in recent years, and highlight a social security system increasingly failing to protect society’s most vulnerable:

Related: Covid-driven recession likely to push 2m UK families into poverty