Europe folding under a fourth wave

Vaccine update:

• Globally, over 7.63 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries at a rate of 33 million doses a day.
• Germany is considering making vaccines compulsory.
• The UK is extending its booster program to avoid following other countries into new restrictions.
• Only 6% of the African population has been fully vaccinated against Covid.
• 70% of high-income countries have fully vaccinated at least 40% of their population. 

Global cases update:

• Cases have surpassed 257.83 million, while the death toll has surpassed 5.16 million; recoveries are at 232.75 million.
• The US has 48.59 million cases, accounting for 18% of global cases; the US death toll is 793,651. 
• India has 34.51 million cases and 463,655 deaths; Brazil has 22.01 million cases and 612,722 deaths.
• Israel's cases are now at their highest since early September.
• Cases in France too are surging despite preventative measures.
• Europe is seeing an increase in anti-lockdown protests.

International travel tracker:

Bloomberg tracks international travel rules (including restrictions), vaccination rates and local public health guidelines of over 70 global business and leisure destinations as the world re-opens. The results are summarised below:

• Most accessible destinations: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Mexico City
• Least accessible destinations: Sydney, Jakarta, Hong Kong and Lagos
• Most restricted destinations: Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney
• Public health measures – moving to “more open”: Riyadh, Tel Aviv

Africa cases update:

• Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 8.65 million; fatalities are at 222,157.
• Morocco has 948,923 reported cases, Nigeria 213,589, Ghana 130,827, Kenya 254,710.
• Africa accounts for 3.4% of global confirmed cases and 4.3% of global reported deaths. 

South Africa cases update:

• SA currently has the 18th highest caseload, at 2.929 million; 687 new cases were reported yesterday.
• Active cases are at 19,147; the Western Cape leads the way, with 6,310 active cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 3,193.
• Covid-19 deaths rose by 2 yesterday, to 89,574; 2.82 million people (or 96.3%) have recovered from the virus.
• 19.113 million tests have been conducted since 5 March 2020; 30,292 tests were conducted yesterday.
• The SA positivity rate is 3.4%.
• 24.646 million vaccines have been administered in SA to date; 11,083 vaccines were administered yesterday.

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