China has issued a guideline to support easing market access in the Hainan free trade port.
The guideline detailed measures to innovate market access in the pharmaceutical and health sectors.
Efforts will be made to optimize market access in the financial sector.
In the education sector, prestigious universities in the country will be supported to set up international colleges in Hainan.
There will also be policies to help ease market access in the civil aviation, sports and seeds markets in Hainan.
China released a plan for Hainan on June 1 last year, aiming to build the province into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.
Official figures show the United States has recorded more than 20,000 infection cases of coronavirus variants as of Thursday.
The majority of those cases were caused by the variant known as B.1.1.7, which was originally detected in Britain.
There are also hundreds of cases of strains initially discovered in South Africa and Brazil.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also closely monitoring two coronavirus strains first detected in California.
The five coronavirus strains are currently classified by the CDC as "variants of concern," as evidence shows they have become increasingly transmissible.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex says more than 10 million people in France have received a first COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The French government aims to administer 20 million jabs by mid-May and to inoculate a total of 30 million, or two-thirds of the adults in the country, by mid-June.
France launched its vaccine rollout in late December.
Ecuador has received the first batch of vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac to protect against the novel coronavirus disease.
Wednesday's cargo marked the largest shipment of COVID-19 vaccine received by the South American country to date to boost its national immunization campaign.
Ecuador has reported 340,000 cases of infection and more than 12,000 deaths from the disease.
U.S. President Joe Biden has introduced new executive actions aimed at addressing the gun violence issue.
Nick Harper reports from Washington.
US President Joe Biden said 106 people die every day in the United States as a result of guns — something he said had to stop.
"Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it's an international embarrassment."
He wants manufacturers to include serial numbers on so-called ghost guns — kits that can be built at home — so they can be traced back to the buyer.
He demanded the banning of stabilizing braces — a device that makes pistols more accurate and therefore more lethal.
The strengthening of Red Flag laws that allow courts to remove guns from people deemed a threat to others or a risk to themselves.
And more funding for communities of color that experience high levels of gun violence.
BMW has recorded its best-ever first quarter in China as sales surged by 97 percent year-on-year.
The German carmaker sold nearly 230,000 BMW and Mini branded vehicles in Q1.
More than 286,000 BMW and Mini brand vehicles were sold in Asia, an increase of 76 percent year-on-year.