Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world Monday

The latest:

The Public Health Agency of Canada said it hopes to keep the number of wasted doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada under five per cent.

That would amount to 3.7 million of the 73.7 million vaccines that have been distributed to provinces and territories, used by the federal government or held in the central vaccine inventory as of Nov. 18.

The federal, provincial and territorial governments aim to keep vaccine wastage as low as possible.

PHAC would not release the total number of wasted doses to date, but a Canadian Press survey of provincial governments showed an average of about 2.6 per cent of distributed doses in responding jurisdictions have been discarded.

The federal government warned that as demand for COVID-19 vaccines slows down, there could be more wastage because new vials may have to be opened without every dose making it into someone's arm.

The government said it works with provinces and territories to make sure procurement of new vaccines align with their needs and helps facilitate the transfer of doses between provinces to minimize waste.

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As of Monday evening, more than 258 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a case-tracking tool maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.1 million.

In Africa, the first of nearly 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine being donated by the European Union by year-end have begun arriving in African countries, a statement by the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Monday.

"The first doses have reached Niger, with more doses arriving in a number of countries this week," Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said in the statement that also listed Guinea Conakry, Mauritania, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Nigeria, Togo and the Republic of Congo.

In Europe, Austrians awoke Monday to their fourth national lockdown of this pandemic, cutting short a Christmas season of shared merriment to fight rising coronavirus infections.

Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe, about 66 per cent of its population of 8.9 million people, with a vocal minority who refuse to be inoculated. On the eve of the latest lockdown, people flocked to Christmas markets for one last night of public socializing and in-person holiday shopping.

Under the lockdown, people can leave their homes only for specific reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor or exercising. Day care centres and schools remained open for those who need them, but parents were asked to keep children at home if possible.