"This is the biggest challenge that I've seen in my 30 years in the business," Chris Hrouda, the president of biomedical services at the American Red Cross, was quoted as saying.

According to American Red Cross officials, some hospitals have altered treatment for some patients or even canceled some surgeries due to the critical shortage, it said.

Noting 2021 is the stupidest year in American history, a columnist for Los Angeles Times said "the pandemic is surely the focus of the most obtuse and ignorant public reactions and state and local policy responses to any crisis in American history."

The exercise, to be held for five days, involves IRGC units such as the aerospace force and the cyber-electronic division, Abbas Nilforoushan, the IRGC's deputy chief of operations and spokesman for the drill, was quoted by Press TV as saying.

According to the general, a series of military systems and weapons recently delivered to the IRGC will be brought into action during the war game.

"The military exercise is meant to increase the preparedness of the IRGC combat units," Nilforoushan said.

"The military drills carry the message of defending and safeguarding the national security," he added.

Meanwhile, Gholam Ali Rashid, another IRGC senior commander, seriously warned Isreal and the United States about any threats or mischief against nuclear facilities in Iran, after Isreal threatened to launch military attacks on Iran's nuclear program during rounds of nuclear talks.

"If such threats are carried out, Iran's armed forces will immediately and decisively attack all centers, bases, routes, and spaces used for the aggression," Rashid said.

Ten years into the conflict, Syria is mired in a deep economic and humanitarian crisis. The international community must lend a helping hand to assist the Syrian people in maintaining their livelihood and hope. China supports the international community and the UN agencies in stepping up their assistance to Syria based on the guiding principles for emergency humanitarian relief, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

All humanitarian operations in Syria should fully respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The cross-border mechanism, which is politically and legally controversial, should be adjusted in a timely manner in light of the development on the ground and make a gradual transition to cross-line delivery, he told the Security Council.

Cross-line humanitarian relief operations in northern Syria should be continuously scaled up. China welcomes the formulation of a six-month cross-line humanitarian relief plan of the United Nations for Northwest Syria and welcomes the World Food Programme's launch of the second cross-line delivery to Northwest Syria earlier this month, he said. "We commend the Syrian government's active cooperation in the implementation of the UN plan, and urge Turkey and other de facto local authorities in Northwest Syria to provide timely access and safety guarantees for cross-line relief operations and facilitate the distribution of supplies."

Early-recovery and livelihood projects should be rigorously supported, said Dai.

China is pleased to see that the United Nations and its partners are carrying out early-recovery projects in multiple areas, including cleaning up debris, restoring critical infrastructure, and providing vocational training. However, the scale of relevant projects is quite limited. China hopes the United Nations will step up investment in this area to help the Syrian people become self-sufficient and reduce their humanitarian needs, he said.

To fundamentally overcome Syria's humanitarian challenges, there is a need to comprehensively address the major issues that endanger Syria's sovereignty, security and development, said Dai.

Unilateral sanctions have brought immeasurable losses and harm to Syria. Security Council members should take concrete measures to eliminate the negative impact of unilateral sanctions, he said.

Countries concerned should withdraw from the illegally occupied territory in northern Syria and stop all actions that undermine Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The international community should abandon double standards and eradicate terrorist forces in Syria at an early date, he said. "Only in this way can we help Syria restore peace and order and safeguard the fundamental interests of the Syrian people."

Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Qian Minjian said that the donation comes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"We hope that this batch of vaccines and the medical equipment will contribute to Lebanon's efforts in fortifying the line of defense against the pandemic," Qian said during a press conference held at Beirut airport.

Qian explained that China aims to secure an equitable distribution of its vaccines at a low cost, which would turn the Chinese vaccine into a worldwide product with great effects.

For his part, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said that the donation comes at a very important time as the country is facing an unprecedented financial crisis that has impacted the health sector.

Abiad noted that the vaccines will boost the vaccination campaign amid an increase in COVID-19 cases in Lebanon, while the hospital beds and ventilators will expand the capacity of medical centers to receive more patients if needed.

Lebanon received its first batch of vaccines from China in April and they were administered by the Lebanese army, customs, social security, and different public departments and ministries.

Welcoming Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani's first participation in the negotiations with a delegation from the new Iranian government, Wang said that as the nuclear talks resume in Vienna "We hope that all parties concerned will seize the opportunity, adhere to the direction of political and diplomatic solutions, fully reflect goodwill and flexibility, respect each others' interests, create a good atmosphere and creatively resolve the outstanding issues through negotiations."

The United States, as the originator of the current Iran nuclear crisis, should lift all related illegal sanctions against Iran and third parties, including China, in order to regain the trust of the international community, while Iran should again comprehensively fulfill its obligations on this basis, Wang said, adding that China will continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the lifting of sanctions and other aspects.

Wang stressed that China has always been committed to upholding the comprehensive Iran nuclear agreement and has worked hard to promote the resumption of the Iran nuclear talks.

China has also conducted intensive communication and coordination with Russia, Iran, the United Kingdom (UK), France, Germany, the United States, the European Union and other relevant parties at different levels with the aim of promoting the resumption of negotiations and making progress as soon as possible, Wang said.

"China will continue to practice genuine multilateralism, participate in the next phase of negotiations in a constructive manner, and work with all parties to promote the early achievement of results in this negotiation," Wang noted.

Wang made the remarks as the Iran nuclear talks resumed here on Monday after a hiatus of more than five months. Diplomats from China, Russia, the UK, France and Germany, as well as Iran, convened at the Palais Coburg hotel, where the 2015 nuclear deal was signed. The US, which withdraw from the 2015 agreement in May 2018 under former President Donald Trump, was taking part in the talks indirectly.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Friday that his country was serious about the upcoming nuclear talks and wanted "a good and verifiable agreement."

The previous round of talks on the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was held in June.

Scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, or LSHTM, said in a worse-case scenario, daily infections during January could be twice as high as they were during January 2021, when cases reached record levels.

The preprint study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, set out a number of scenarios that took into consideration differing levels of natural immunity and vaccine effectiveness in the context of the highly mutated variant.

Omicron is thought to cause a higher number of reinfections in people who have previously recovered from COVID-19, according to separate data from South Africa. Scientists are still gathering data on vaccine and booster efficacy against the variant.

In the most optimistic scenario, where there are low levels of so-called immune escape and booster shots are highly effective, the winter wave will lead to a peak of 2,000 daily hospital admissions, with 175,000 hospitalizations and 24,700 deaths between December 2021 and April 30.

The most pessimistic scenario, in which there is a high level of immune escape and boosters are less effective, projects around 492,000 hospitalizations and 74,800 deaths during the same period.

"These are early estimates, but they do suggest that, overall, Omicron is outcompeting Delta rapidly by evading vaccines to a substantial degree," said LSHTM epidemiologist Nick Davies, who co-led the research. "If current trends continue, then Omicron may represent half of UK cases by the end of December."

Both scenarios assume no additional lockdown or social distancing measures, beyond those that are currently in place in the UK, which recently reinstated a mask mandate and a proof of vaccination rule for some venues, as well as a work-from-home recommendation.

The UK government has been reluctant to revisit more disruptive measures, instead opting for a strategy that focuses on vaccination and other drug interventions, including a pilot program for at-home antiviral pills.

But the LHSTM said if vaccines prove less effective at preventing severe illness against Omicron, more draconian measures should be considered to take pressure off health services.

In the most optimistic scenario, the researchers said measures including restrictions on indoor hospitality, the closure of some entertainment venues, and restrictions on gathering sizes would be "sufficient to substantially control the wave", reducing hospitalizations by 53,000 and deaths by 7,600.

Stronger measures would be needed to control the wave predicted in the worst-case scenario.

"Nobody wants to endure another lockdown, but last-resort measures may be required to protect health services, if Omicron has a significant level of immune escape, or otherwise increased transmissibility, compared to Delta," said Rosanna Barnard, an LSHTM epidemiologist who co-led the research.