Worldwide coronavirus cases have surpassed 90 million as nations around the globe scramble to procure vaccines and continue to extend or reinstate lockdowns to fight new coronavirus variants.
The new COVID-19 variants discovered initially in the United Kingdom and South Africa are rapidly spreading globally.
Reuters reports the novel coronavirus has picked up pace in the past few months with about one-third of total cases registered in the last 48 days.
Europe, which became the first region to report 25 million cases last week, remains the worst-affected area in the world, followed by North and Latin Americas with 22.4 million and 16.3 million cases respectively.
Europe has reported around 31% of about 1.93 million coronavirus-related deaths globally.
The United Kingdom, the worst-affected European country, crossed 3 million cases last Friday.
The nation is on course to have immunized its most vulnerable people against COVID-19 by mid-February and plans to offer a shot to every adult by autumn.
To control the spread of new coronavirus variant, countries across the globe have started to extend movement and business restrictions.
The United States, the world’s worst-affected country, reported its highest death toll last Thursday, with over 4,000 fatalities in a single day.
The nation has recorded more than 22 million cases since the pandemic started, reporting on average 245,000 new infections a day over the last seven days.
In Asia, India crossed 150,000 deaths last Tuesday, becoming the third nation to reach the grim milestone.
[Source: Reuters]
