The potential of a cross-country Christmas week storm hitting the US is increasing.

In a seemingly arbitrary move Prime Minister Boris Johnson has cancelled family Christmas gatherings for people living in London and southeast England.

Ukrainian artist Maryna Gerashchenko is at the peak of festive season handcrafting Christmas tree figurines in her home-based studio.

In the UK up to three families will be allowed to form a bubble under one roof over the festive period. That’s less than a week away, and amid a surge in infections London and nearby areas have entered Tier 3; the highest level of local restrictions in England.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged Britons to restrict their gatherings over the Christmas holidays to avoid mass Covid-19 infections.

Russia reports its highest COVID-19 daily death tally on Friday, a day after official data revealed a surge in excess deaths in October that made it Russia's most deadly month in a decade.

Germany will have to impose tougher coronavirus restrictions before Christmas to try to get the pandemic under control, ministers and regional leaders say.

Deaths from COVID-19 in the US have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi lights up the San Marco Square in Venice with his newly designed Christmas tree, which he hopes will bring positivity and good cheer.

Scientists in Thailand have unearthed a near-complete Bryde’s whale skeleton estimated to be 5,000 years old.