Thousands of protesters packed Amsterdam's streets today in opposition to the government-imposed Covid-19 measures and vaccination campaign as virus infections hit a new record.

Authorities were granted stop and search powers at several locations across the city and scores of riot police vans patrolled neighbourhoods where the demonstrators marched with banners and yellow umbrellas.

Regular anti-coronavirus protests are held across the country and Sunday's large gathering was joined by farmers who drove to the capital and parked tractors along the central Museum Square.

The crowd played music, chanted anti-government slogans and then marched along thoroughfares, blocking traffic.

Sindh has reported 2,670 new coronavirus cases and three deaths over the past 24 hours, according to the daily situation report issued by the Chief Minister's Office.

The province's infection tally now stands at 500,955 and the death toll has climbed to 7,697.

Austria’s government has proposed setting the minimum age for mandatory vaccinations against Covid-19 at 18 and rolling out the programme in stages from February 1, seeking to build broad consensus for the disputed step.

The conservative-led government had said last month it intended the mandate to apply to all people aged 14 and up, the first European Union country to make vaccinations compulsory for the general population.

The Chinese city of Xian has gradually begun lifting restrictions after over three weeks of lockdown as authorities sought to stamp out a local outbreak before the Beijing Winter Olympic Games are due to start, AP reports.

State-owned broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that certain counties and development zones in Xi'an had begun restoring production.

Officials told a news conference that lockdown measures had been either partially or completely lifted in some communities that have been designated as lower risk, allowing people to leave their homes for a limited time to purchase daily necessities.

Human rights group Amnesty International urged Italy to change tough anti-Covid restrictions to avoid discrimination against unvaccinated people, Reuters reports.

In a recent decree, Mario Draghi's government made vaccination mandatory for everyone over the age of 50 and for use of public transport and a range of other services.

Amnesty International asked for the provision of alternative measures, including the use of masks and Covid-19 testing, to allow the unvaccinated population to continue to go to work and to use public transport “without discrimination”, the group said in a statement issued late on Saturday.

World Health Organisation official warned last week of a closing window of opportunity for European countries to prevent their health care systems from being overwhelmed as the omicron variant produces near-vertical growth in coronavirus infections, AP reports.

In France, Britain and Spain, nations with comparatively strong national health programmes, that window may already be closed.

The director of an intensive care unit at a hospital in Strasbourg is turning patients away. A surgeon at a London hospital describes a critical delay in a man's cancer diagnosis. Spain is seeing its determination to prevent a system collapse tested as omicron keeps medical personnel off work.

China has reported 65 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases for Jan. 15, including the first Omicron case in Beijing, just weeks from the Feb. 4 start of the city's Winter Olympic Games and the country's Lunar New Year holiday, according to Reuters.

On Saturday, the capital Beijing reported the first local infection of the Omicron variant, involving a person who had visited multiple malls and restaurants in the previous 14 days. The person had not left the city since the start of this year.

China has not said how many Omicron cases it has detected in total.