COVID-19 Deveopments Overview: International, U.S.

LONDON — Thousands of people 80 and older have started receiving invitations to get the coronavirus vaccine in England, officials said Sunday, as Britain ramps up its national vaccination program in a bid to meet its target of inoculating about 15 million people by the middle of February.

More than 600,000 invitations are due to arrive at doorsteps across England this week, asking the elderly to sign up for jabs at new mass vaccination centers near them.

Officials are hoping a speedy mass vaccination rollout will help get Britain out of its third national lockdown, which was ordered this month to curb an alarming surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths. Britain has seen 81,000 deaths in the pandemic, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS ___

— California reports record one-day total of 695 coronavirus deaths

— UK PM Boris Johnson under fire as Britain again faces onslaught of COVID-19

— Overwhelmed hospitals in Ukraine see the consequences of widespread New Year’s festivities

— Israelis protest Netanyahu amid third virus lockdown

— Nightly curfew for pandemic takes effect across Quebec

BERLIN — More than 40,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Germany.

The sad record of 40,343 deaths was reached Sunday when the country’s disease control center reported 465 new deaths.

Germany initially managed to keep death numbers low in comparison to its European neighbors, but since October both new infections and deaths have been creeping up steadily. On Sunday Germany recorded 16,946 new infections.

The country entered a second hard lockdown last month, which was recently extended until the end of January. Schools and most stores are closed, hospitals in the country are on edge and some morgues don’t have enough space to cool the relentless flow of incoming bodies....