Coronavirus infections are on聽the rise in many countries around the world, with cases soaring in some nations and fresh聽outbreaks in several places where the virus was previously thought to be under control.
This week, England and Scotland began new lockdowns, joining Wales and Northern Ireland, which already had similar聽restrictions in place.
Without such action, the countries鈥� chief medical officers warned that hospitals would become overwhelmed within 21聽days. Hospitals in England are聽treating than during the聽peak of聽the first wave. Elsewhere in聽Europe, several countries, including Greece and聽Germany, are extending existing lockdowns.
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The US is seeing recorded daily cases surge to their highest levels聽in the pandemic so far, , with聽California among the hardest聽hit. Some hospitals in聽the聽state are making plans for聽how to , if聽needed.
Even nations regarded as managing the pandemic well and聽keeping case numbers low聽are聽seeing infections reach their highest levels yet. Thailand, which has recorded only 8900 cases of covid-19 so far, and just 65聽deaths, has seen a rise in infections after an outbreak that reportedly started in a seafood market. New聽daily cases have reached a record high of over 800聽and new restrictions have聽been imposed in over half聽of聽the country鈥檚 provinces, including Bangkok.
Japan, which managed to contain its first and second waves, is now experiencing a third wave. On 5 January, it saw 8400 new cases, its highest daily total so far.聽The Japanese government is聽considering declaring a state of emergency in the Tokyo region, the worst hit area, which would involve new restrictions. It seems increasingly unlikely that Tokyo will be able to host the Olympics as聽planned in July.
Meanwhile, Australia has seen聽several small outbreaks in聽the聽past month, including clusters in Sydney and Melbourne totalling about 200 cases. The聽resurgence triggered strict new measures, including bans on聽travel between states.
Globally the outlook has worsened since the discovery of two variants of the coronavirus. One was discovered in Kent in the UK, and seems to be much more transmissible than previous kinds. Because it causes more infections, this variant is likely to lead to more deaths.
鈥淭he [UK] government failed to聽introduce greater restrictions in聽September and that led to the surge in December, however, the聽new variant has clearly played a large role and that could not necessarily have been predicted,鈥� says David Hunter at the University of Oxford.
Another fast-spreading variant聽was discovered in South聽Africa in聽December, and seems to be largely responsible for聽a second wave there. The country鈥檚 daily cases topped 17,000 in December, higher than聽during its first wave in聽July.
The race is now on to vaccinate as many people as possible. The聽first immunisations using the聽vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca began this week in the UK, the first country to administer the vaccine.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson said this week that if all went well, by mid-February the country should have immunised groups including those over-70 and those clinically extremely vulnerable, allowing schools
to reopen.
Other nations have also been聽scrambling to deliver vaccines, after a slow start in聽several countries.
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