Coronavirus cases continue to soar across much of the globe. India has overtaken Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of confirmed infections, after reporting a record 169,000 positive tests on Monday. India’s total cases are now at 13.5 million, second only to the U.S. In Brazil, a new report finds that 19 million people have gone hungry during the pandemic, with nearly 117 million — over half the population — facing some level of food insecurity. Hospitals in Germany are filling up as the country fights to contain a major surge. Elsewhere in Europe, the U.K. is further easing restrictions as its aggressive vaccine rollout has helped stall new cases. Meanwhile, dozens of poorer nations are likely to face major delays to their vaccination campaigns after COVAX, the international effort to provide those countries with vaccines, said deliveries have all but halted. The World Health Organization again lambasted the “shocking imbalance” in vaccine access.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “On average, in high-income countries, almost one in four people has received a vaccine. In low-income countries, it’s one in more than 500.”