Global coronavirus infections close to grim 100 million mark

The global coronavirus hit another grim milestone on January 23 as it reached nearly the 100 million infections mark, according to the world virus tracker. As many as 2.1 million fatalities have been recorded globally since the pandemic hit. The US remains the hardest impacted nation with 25,566,789 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, and 427,635 deaths. The newly sworn-in Joe Biden's administration sprang to action after President signed executive orders mandating measures critical to preventing the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile in India, the daily cases of the novel SARS-CoV-2 have been on a significant decline as Prime Minister Narendra Modi intensified testing in the country's worst-affected states. The country recorded a total of 10,655,435 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak, with 153,376 fatalities. Simultaneously, with rigorous testing and contact tracing, India launched a COVID-19 vaccinator drive, additionally, shipping vials of domestically manufactured vaccine to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Morocco, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Thus far, nearly 15.82 hundred thousand in the high risk and vulnerable groups category have been inoculated in the mass campaign since January 16 with an SAE rate as low as 0.08 per cent. Brazil, with the third-largest global caseload, nearly 8,816,254 total infections, received 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from India on January 23. 

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There's isn’t 'enough vaccine': Brazil

At a presser, Brazil’s Health Ministry announced that the 2 million doses from India will be used to inoculate priority groups in the nation, however, the shipment only covers very few in the population. Mário Scheffer, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Sao Paulo told AP: “Counting doses from Butantan (a Sao Paulo state research institute) and those from India, there isn’t enough vaccine and there is no certainty about when Brazil will have more or how much". He added, that the vaccine shortfall might interfere with the country’s capacity in the near-term to reach collective immunity and defeat the coronavirus pandemic. 

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