New US President Joe Biden has warned the worst of the pandemic is still to come, as the number of American coronavirus deaths surpassed the country's troop fatalities in World War II.

Coronavirus cases have surged past 96 million worldwide, fuelled by the emergence of new variants including one that was first detected in Britain and has now spread to more than 60 nations, the World Health Organization said.

The United States remains the worst-hit country, with around a fifth of the two million global Covid-19 deaths, and Mr Biden has made the fight against the pandemic his administration's top priority.

We're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus," Mr Biden said at his inauguration, where those in attendance wore face masks and social distancing was enforced.

A total of 144 new cases were reported yesterday, the National Health Commission said, matching the total reported on 14 January and marking the highest number of daily infections since 1 March last year.

Mass Covid-19 testing of thousands of people in the Swiss resort of St Moritz where luxury hotels were placed under quarantine found 53 coronavirus infections, including 31 cases of a fast-spreading variant, local officials said.

Authorities said about 3,200 people were tested this week, and that the 31 infections caused by viral variants were discovered among hotel employees, not guests at the two hotels placed under quarantine, Badrutt's Palace Hotel and the Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski.

Sweden extended distance learning for secondary school students and told public employees to continue to work from home, renewing measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic despite signs that infections are beginning to slow.

Sweden has avoided the kind of lockdown seen across much of Europe, but has gradually tightened restrictions after being hit by a second wave of Covid-19 infections in autumn last year.

Despite the brighter outlook, the government also extended a ban on sales of alcohol in the evenings by two weeks and said commuters should continue to wear face masks on public transport during rush hours through the spring

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