JOHANNESBURG – South Africa logged its millionth case of Covid-19 and South Korea today became the latest country to detect the new coronavirus variant, as the pandemic showed no signs of letting up.
Global infections have raced past 80 million with nearly 1.8 million deaths, even as vaccination drives gather pace in North America and Europe, with a top United States expert warning that the pandemic might get even worse in the coming weeks.
The explosion of cases worldwide in recent weeks has prompted the return of many unpopular restrictions, including some lockdowns, and concerns have grown after the detection of a new virus variant experts believe could be more transmissible.
South Africa became the first African nation to log one million cases, official data showed yesterday, as authorities considered reimposing restrictions to battle a second wave of infections driven by the new variant.
South Korea became the latest nation today to detect the variant, in three individuals of a London-based family who arrived in the country last week.
The new variant was first detected in Britain, and made its way to a number of other nations including Japan and Canada, prompting dozens of governments – including European nations – to impose travel restrictions on the United Kingdom.
Most European countries began their vaccination campaigns over the weekend, boosting hopes of an end to the pandemic, especially in some of the hardest-hit parts of the continent.
“Today is a big moment when you think back to all that we have been through… especially during the first wave of the pandemic,” said Isabella Palazzini, an Italian nurse in Cremona.
“They were very difficult times, both for the patients and for us, the caregivers,” said Palazzini, three of whose colleagues died of Covid-19. – AFP, December 28, 2020
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