Roundup: Israel enters third national lockdown as COVID-19 tally surpasses 400,000; Iran's confirmed cases top 1.2 mln

CAIRO, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel entered on Sunday the third nationwide lockdown as the country's COVID-19 tally surpassed the 400,000 mark. Meanwhile, Iran reported 5,502 new infections over the last 24 hours, raising the overall count to 1,200,465.

The Israeli government on Sunday announced the enforcement of a two-week nationwide lockdown as the country gears up a vaccination drive to curb a resurging wave of COVID-19 infections. This is the third national lockdown in Israel since the outbreak of the pandemic.