Global coronavirus cases have surpassed 100 million as countries around the world struggle with new virus variants and vaccine shortfalls.
Almost 1.3 per cent of the world’s population has now been infected with COVID-19 and more than 2.1 million people have died.
One person has been infected every 7.7 seconds, on average, since the start of the year.
Around 668,250 cases have been reported each day over the same period, with the global fatality rate at 2.15 per cent.
The worst-affected countries, the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, make up more than half all reported COVID-19 cases but represent 28 per cent of the global population.
It took the world 11 months to record the first 50 million cases of the pandemic, compared to just three months for cases to double to 100 million.
Around 56 countries have begun vaccinating people for the coronavirus, administering at least 64 million doses.
Israel leads the world on per capita vaccinations, inoculating 29 per cent of its population with at least one dose.
With more than 25 million cases, the United States has 25 per cent of all reported COVID cases although it accounts for just four per cent of the world’s population.
The US leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in every five deaths reported worldwide each day.
With just less than 425,00 fatalities, the United States has reported almost twice as many deaths as Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll.
As the worst-affected region in the world, Europe is currently reporting a million new infections about every four days and has reported nearly 30 million since the pandemic began.
Britain on Tuesday recorded its 100,000th death.
Despite securing deals for vaccine supplies early on, many European countries are facing delays in shipments from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
In India, the nation with the second-highest number of cases, infections are decreasing, with almost 13,700 reported on average each day – around 15 per cent of its peak.
China, which recently marked the first anniversary of the world’s first coronavirus lockdown in the central city of Wuhan, is facing its worst wave of local cases since March last year.
As richer nations race ahead with mass vaccination campaigns, Africa is scrambling to secure supplies as it grapples with concerns about more-infectious variants of the virus first identified in South Africa and Britain.
The South African variant is 50 per cent more infectious and has been detected in at least 20 countries.
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