That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, for today’s Covid blog.

Please join me on our latest live feed here where I’ll be focusing a little more on the coronavirus crisis across Asia, Australia and the Pacific.

You can also keep up with the top headlines here.

Here are the latest developments from across the world surrounding the coronavirus crisis:

• UK prime minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political future after he belatedly apologised for attending a party during the coronavirus lockdown.
• Novak Djokovic’s deportation decision looms as Australian immigration minister Alex Hawke must decide whether to revoke his visa for a second time and throw him out of the country.
• France eases ban on UK allowing vaccinated people from Britain to visit from Friday providing they have a negative test, after the French authorities say they will ease curbs introduced last month due to the Omicron Covid variant.
• US president Joe Biden says the government will double its purchase of Covid-19 tests to one billion.
• Finland’s health authorities cut the recommended quarantine period for Covid-19 patients by up to half, as infections hit record levels.
• French teachers went on strike, with the biggest teachers’ union saying half of primary schools were closed as staff demand clarity from the government on coronavirus measures.
• Hungary says it will offer a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose to citizens.
• Spain agrees to cap the cost of Covid self-testing antigen kits at just under three euros and will make a fourth vaccine dose available to vulnerable citizens, including cancer patients.
• Greece’s government announces a 100-euro ($114) monthly fine on persons aged over 60 who refuse the anti-Covid vaccine.
• Poorer countries refused to take around 100m donated Covid-19 vaccine doses in December alone, chiefly due to their short shelf life, the United Nations says.
• Norway is to allow bars and restaurants to serve alcohol again from Friday, but only as part of table service and until 11pm.

US president Joe Biden has said he will send more military health workers to hospitals in six US states and provide free masks and more free tests to help Americans tackle the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

He announced the phased dispatch of 1,000 military health personnel beginning next week as US Covid-19 hospitalisations hit a record high and health facilities faced a staffing crunch.

“I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year,” Biden said, reiterating his message that Covid-19 remains a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” He said the military deployment would help hard-pressed hospitals nationwide.

Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as my colleague Harry Taylor calls it a night in London. I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from Sydney.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.

The state of NSW has recorded 29 Covid deaths and 63,018 cases with 2,525 Covid cases in hospital.

Victoria reported 18 deaths and 34,836 cases with 3,500 in hospital.

The federal government is also expected to rule on Novak Djokovic’s visa today.

Covid curfews in Quebec, Canada will be lifted from Monday, the province’s premier has said.

François Legault said the order could be ended because officials estimated hospitalisations would peak in the next few days. A 10pm to 5am curfew was reimposed on 31 December after being used for five months between January and May 2021.

“The wave of hospitalization is expected to peak in the coming days. We’re going in the right direction but we have to remain very careful,” Legault said, according to AP reports.

He also announced that the province’s vaccine passport would be extended to big box retail stores, except for grocery stores and pharmacies. Legault has previously said adult residents who refuse to get vaccinated should be charged a financial penalty.

Earlier on Thursday, Quebec reported 45 more deaths and a rise of 117 coronavirus-related hospitalisations.

A French court has suspended an order that makes masks wearing on Paris streets compulsory.

The mandate, imposed by the Paris prefecture, the local arm of the interior ministry, had been in place since 31 December to curb Omicron cases.

The ruling by the Paris Administrative Tribunal comes a day after another court in Versailles, near Paris, suspended a similar order in the Yvelines region, according to Reuters.

The greater Paris region is France’s Omicron hotspot, although the variant is running rampant nationwide. Data showed an incidence rate of 3,899 infections per 100,000 residents over the past seven days.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has become the dominant variant in Germany, according to its Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

In its weekly report, released on Thursday, it said it accounted for 73.3% of cases compared with 44.3% seven days ago.

Delta, which was for a long time the more prevalent variant of the virus, now accounted for just 25.9% of cases, the RKI said, according to Reuters.

“In the coming weeks we expect a strong increase in infections with the Omicron variant,” the report said. “First studies point to a lower share of hospitalizations in those who are fully vaccinated compared to infections with the Delta variant.”

Around 72% of the population in Germany was now double vaccinated and 44% have had a booster shot, it said. On Thursday it reported a new record amount of daily cases, 80,430 and another 384 deaths.

A fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose will be offered to vulnerable citizens in Spain, AFP reports.

Those included are people with cancer, those who have had a transplant or are receiving dialysis, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The latest dose will only be given five months after a third dose. For the population at large, a third dose will be available for people aged 18 and over. It is currently only available to those over 40. The time between doses will be cut from six months to five months.

More than 90% of people in the country aged 12 and over have had two doses. The country has had 90,508 deaths and 7.7 million cases during the pandemic.

Joe Biden will double the number of rapid Covid-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, as well as N95 masks, as he redoubles efforts to stop an increase in Covid infections in the US.

He announced that starting next month, 1,000 members of the armed forces will begin deploying across the country to help hospitals and medical clinics facing staff shortages due to Omicron.

He said six additional military teams will be sent to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island. Many medical facilities are struggling because of people isolating at home. The president also encouraged people to get vaccinated.

Kits will be available from next week, with a new website being set up where people can request the free tests.

Teachers in France went on strike on Thursday, as staff demanded clarity from the government over Covid measures.

Half of primary schools were closed as tens of thousands took to the streets with the interior ministry saying nearly 78,000 teachers and other school staff protested nationally.

Unions claim that teachers are not able to teach properly, are not adequately protected against infection and hear about changes to health precautions from the media rather than education bosses.

“The government announces things, but no-one thinks about what it means for staff on the ground,” Olivier Flipo, the head of a Paris school, told AFP this week.

The incoming government in the Czech Republic said that Covid was one of its priorities as it took power on Thursday.

Peter Fiala, a 57-year-old, heads a government of five parties with a slim majority in its 200-seat parliament.

He said the pandemic, along with rising energy costs and inflation would be a focus according to AFP.

“Our citizens are no doubt facing the most difficult year since our country gained independence [in 1993], but we are ready to tackle the situation and handle it well,” the prime minister said.

Teachers are being faced with half-empty classrooms in the US as pupils are off due to having Covid or their parents being concerned about infection.

Associated Press reports:

“This is really taking a toll on the learning. If you have three kids in your class one day and you’re supposed to have 12, you have to reteach everything two weeks later when those kids come back,” said Tabatha Rosproy, a teacher in Kansas, and the 2020 national Teacher of the Year.

Some of the country’s biggest school systems report absentee rates around 20% or slightly more, with some individual schools seeing far higher percentages of missing students.

In Seattle, attendance has averaged 81% since the return from winter break. Los Angeles schools marked about 30% of the district’s 600,000-plus students absent on Tuesday, the first day back after the break.

Adnan Bhuiyan, 17, has at times been one of seven or eight students in classes that normally have 30 at the Bronx Latin School in New York.

“Part of me was like, why are we sitting here doing nothing the whole day. Why can’t we just stay home” and learn remotely, he said. “The other part of me knows that the mayor wants to keep the school open for certain reasons, and I can understand that. But the more and more we went through it, I just kept thinking at this point it’s a waste of time for everyone because we’re not learning anything.”