A year later, the pandemic shows no sign of loosening the stranglehold of billions of people’s everyday lives. In some parts of the world, cases are still rising sharply, and the losses are increasing every day as more and more people lose loved ones to Covid-19, lose a business or lose their livelihood.
On January 15, the official worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic exceeded 2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
While the figure of 2 million is appalling, experts believe that the actual death toll is probably much higher. Only confirmed deaths from Covid-19 were included in the count, which means that people who die without a fixed diagnosis may not be present.
Similarly, many people will be infected with the coronavirus without having a positive test to confirm it. In the early stages of the pandemic, there were fewer tests available, and in many countries the test is currently still insufficient.
Nevertheless, according to the latest figures from the World Bank with a world population of about 7.67 billion, the global case indicates that about one in every 76 people now had the virus.
The data from Johns Hopkins University passed the threshold of 1 million confirmed cases on April 2 and 10 million on June 28.
It took until November 7 before the world registered 50 million confirmed cases. Since then, the trend has accelerated sharply. The 90 million case was passed less than three weeks ago, on January 10th.
The country worst affected, in terms of total case numbers, India, is responsible for just over a tenth of the global confirmed cases. According to Johns Hopkins, there are more than 152,000 deaths there.
Brazil has reported more than 8.8 million confirmed cases of the virus and 217,000 deaths, the second highest death toll after the United States.
Europe has also been hit hard and many countries are struggling to contain a second wave of infections since the autumn. The UK performed worst, with more than 3.6 million confirmed cases and more than 100,000 deaths – the fifth highest toll in the world.
As governments around the world try to limit the further spread of the virus, scientists are causing the emergence of new, more contagious variants.
One such variant was first detected in south-east England at the end of last year; another was found in South Africa and two more in Brazil. A variation has also been seen in the US state of California that may or may not drive renewed distribution there.
Scientists rushed to see if the changes in the virus would make it susceptible to available treatments and vaccines, amid fears that the mutations would enable them to evade the immunity caused by vaccination.
Mass Covid-19 vaccination programs seem to be the fastest way out of the pandemic – but countries’ access to vaccines and the ability to distribute and administer jabs differ widely.
In the US, President Joe Biden has set a target of administering 100 million doses of vaccine in his first 100 days in office. More than 17.5 million doses have been administered across the country since Thursday, a day after he was sworn in.
The expert in infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci, said that, despite challenges with the distribution and administration of vaccines, by the end of the summer, 70-85% of American adults can and should vaccinate, which by autumn appears to normality can mean.
In the UK, the government aims to give at least a first dose to everyone in the most vulnerable groups by mid-February and to have all adults vaccinated by the autumn.
Meanwhile, all those who are not vaccinated worldwide must continue to rely on measures that take social distance, wear hygiene and mask, since Covid-19 arrived on the scene.
No one knows how many tens of millions more people worldwide will be infected with the coronavirus – or how many millions more people will die before this pandemic is under control.
In 2021, the hope is still high that science and modern medicine can rule against Covid-19 with a fraction of the death toll.
Byron Manley and CNN’s Maggie Fox contributed to this report.