The COVID-19 pandemic intensified almost everywhere in the world on Friday, especially in North America and Africa, while China isolated two large cities;

In an effort to contain new foci of the epidemic, Europe is preparing to authorize a new vaccine.

Over a period of 7 days, more than 658,000 injuries were recorded per day, an increase of 14% compared to last week, according to the French Press Agency census.

The pace of the pandemic is registering an acceleration of 21% in the United States and Canada, 19% in the African continent, 16% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 12% in the Middle East, and 8% in Europe.

Since its first appearance in China more than a year ago, the new Corona virus has caused nearly 2 million deaths and 87 million infections.

In light of these data, Europe, Friday, boosted its vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 by doubling its orders for doses of "Pfizer-BioNTech".

In light of the criticism leveled at the slow pace of vaccination campaigns in the Old Continent, the European Union doubled its requests for doses, awaiting the receipt of the first batch of the moderna vaccine.

Europe is preparing to authorize the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine, to become the third of its kind to be given a green light after "Pfizer-Biontech" and "Moderna".

"We have got the amount of doses we need to vaccinate 380 million Europeans, and this represents more than 80% of the European population," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Referring to a vaccination campaign with the "Pfizer-Biontech" and "Moderna" vaccines, she added that other permits for vaccines are expected "in the coming weeks and months."

On Friday, the United Kingdom - the most recorded country in Europe with deaths from Covid-19, with 79,833 deaths - has strengthened its vaccination campaign against the Corona virus by approving the use of the "Moderna" vaccine, after it had approved the use of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that hospitals are close to reaching their capacity, and said that "the conditions in London are currently critical, and the virus outbreak is out of control."

The rapid spread of two mutated strains of Covid-19 raises great concern, especially since the vaccines that were reached at record speed have not yet been widely distributed.

In an encouraging sign, the Biontech laboratory announced that the "Pfizer-Biontech" vaccine has efficacy against a fundamental mutation of two strains of the emerging corona virus that were detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

And in China and Australia, where the pandemic is under control;

The authorities responded very quickly to the emergence of new and confined outposts, fearing the spread of the two strains mutating from the epidemic on their lands.

On Friday, two municipalities in southern Beijing suspended the work of shared transportation, and launched a large-scale testing campaign, after 127 injuries were detected in one of the regions last week.

And the cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai became isolated from the world after cutting off air transport and stopping trains and buses for common long-distance transport, and these measures include 18 million people.

Europe has doubled its vaccine orders and is preparing to declare the "AstraZeneca-Oxford" vaccine (Getty Images)

In Australia, the authorities imposed a 3-day isolation on two million people from the Brisbane region - the third largest city in the country - after an infection with the mutated Covid-19 strain rampant in Britain was detected by a worker in a city hotel.

In Japan, a state of emergency was imposed again in Tokyo and its suburbs, with a record level of injuries.

In Egypt, the Ministry of Health said yesterday, Friday, that it had recorded 1001 new cases of Coronavirus and 56 deaths, compared with 1219 infections and 54 deaths on Thursday.

Yesterday, Friday, the Moroccan Ministry of Health recorded 1543 new cases of Coronavirus, down from 1597 yesterday, bringing the total number of infections to 450,221 cases since the first case appeared last March.

Also, 40 new deaths were recorded, up from 27 cases yesterday, bringing the total deaths due to the virus to 7,685 cases.

The Moroccan government said that it had approved the vaccine that AstraZeneca developed with the University of Oxford for emergency use to prevent Corona virus.

She said that the vaccination process may take about 3 months, and that the priority in the first stage is for those who work in the front lines, such as security, health and education personnel.