Mexico’s official COVID-19 death toll is set to pass 300,000. That’s the fifth-highest death toll of any nation, though disease experts believe the true toll is significantly higher due to lapses in testing and reporting.

India reported over 117,000 positive coronavirus tests Friday, the most since early June, as Omicron spreads rapidly in urban areas.

The British government has deployed 200 military personnel to London hospitals amid staffing shortages due to COVID-19.

In France, lawmakers have approved a bill requiring everyone 16 and up to show a “vaccine pass” to access public places.

In Brazil, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday blasted his government’s approval of Pfizer COVID shots for 5-to-11-year-olds and insisted he would not allow his 11-year-old daughter to be vaccinated.

President Jair Bolsonaro: “I ask you: Are you aware of a child aged 5 to 11 who has died of COVID? I’m not.”

A study by the public health organization Vital Strategies found nearly 3,000 children in Brazil aged 10 and younger had died of COVID-19 by summer of 2021.

Meanwhile, Chile on Thursday announced it will begin rolling out fourth COVID-19 vaccine shots, becoming the first country in Latin America to offer a second booster dose.