Over 1.5 million people have lost their lives due to Covid-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on average in the past week.
Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the severity of the pandemic is far from over.
Nearly 65 million people globally have been infected by the disease and the worst-affected country, the United States, is currently battling a third wave of coronavirus infections.
In the last week alone, more than 10,000 people in the world died on average every single day, and the number has been steadily rising each passing week.
The disease has caused more deaths in the past year than tuberculosis in 2019 and nearly four times the number of deaths due to malaria, according to the World Health Organization.
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South Korea said it is considering tightening its social distancing rules as it reported 629 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the most since the first wave of infections in the country peaked in late February.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the situation was critical as infections continued to rise at an alarming rate despite the re-imposition of social-distancing rules late last month, and added that the government would decide this Sunday whether to upgrade restrictions.
Spain’s Catalonia region will not relax restrictions as planned because of worsening infection rates, prompting some ski slopes to postpone their opening next week.
France will ensure free vaccinations for all and has earmarked some €1.5 billion of next year’s social security budget to cover the cost.
Britain will pay individuals who suffer any severe side-effects from Covid-19 vaccines under an existing programme, the government said, ahead of a rollout of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine in the country following emergency approval.
Coronavirus will be added as a “precautionary step” to the list of diseases covered for potential liabilities under the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme (VDPS), the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Under the scheme, individuals are entitled to a lump sum capped at £120,000 (€132,000) if they can prove to have been seriously disabled as a result of a vaccination.