Its been close to two years of the devastating Covid-19 global pandemic.
Lives have been lost, livelihoods cut short, countries' economic stability tested and so much more as the world continues to deal with the pandemic.
According to the World Health Organisation, the global Coronavirus statistics, as of November 18, 2021 showed there had been 254,847,065 confirmed cases including 5,120,712 deaths.
As of November 17, 2021, a total of 7,370,902,499 Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered.
The WHO has approved a total of eight vaccines to be used globally. These are Moderna (Approved in 77 countries), Pfizer (Approved in 107), Johnson and Johnson (Approved in 78 countries), Astrazeneca (Approved in 125 countries), Covishield (Approved in 46 countries), Covaxin (Approved in 10 countries), BBIBP- CorV (Approved in 68 countries) and CoronaVac (Approved in 43 countries).
KENYA
In Kenya, so far, five vaccines have been deployed. They are AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Sinopharm, Moderna and Pfizer.
At least 6.3 million have been partially vaccinated, with the proportion of adults fully vaccinated standing at 8.6 per cent.
Data released by the ministry shows the uptake of the second dose to be at 55.4 per cent.
In its new strategy, the government plans to employ the services of at least 10,000 vaccinators who will move from door to door just as has been the case with polio and measles.
The plan is to administer at least 150,000 doses daily, up from the current 60,000 to 70,000.
This is expected to start from November 25 and run to December 5, according to Dr Andrew Mulwa, the acting director of preventive and promotive health services at the Health ministry.
To date, Kenya has received 9.7 million doses, with another 12 million expected by end of the month.
Kenya banks on the improved Covid-19 vaccines supply chain to achieve the set target to vaccinate 10 million people by end of December and 26 million by end of next year.
Kenya, like other African countries, struggled to access the vaccines after the main manufacturer of AstraZeneca jab in India halted exports in May to battle with their domestic demand as a result of the second wave.
Several countries were forced to suspend their vaccination campaigns after depleting their stocks.
The vaccine supply situation has now greatly improved. In the next two weeks, we shall have received and supplied all doses required for us to achieve our target
India’s Covid-19 surge created supply chain turmoil to countries, and to the Covax facility that depends on the institute for the doses with reports.
As a result, the country has been depending on donations from other countries such as the UK and the US for the vaccination drive.
The suspension of exports created a shortfall of 90 million doses for Covax, 40 million affected in March and 50 million in April. This means Covax was able to meet just a fraction of its vaccine distribution targets.
INDIA
There have been over 34.5 million Covid-19 cases with more that 465,000 confirmed deaths.
In terms of vaccination, the government of India reported a total of 1,15,23,49,358 doses have been administered. Out of this, 76,03,22,277 are first doses while second doses administered are 39,20,27,081.
India's active cases are at 126,620 with a majority at Kerala state with 62,920 cases.
At least 33,897,921 people have been discharged from India's health facilities after successful recoveries.
India grappled with a Covid surge that hit the country like a cyclone in early April. By late May, about 27 million infections had been confirmed and more than 300,000 people were dead, as experts predicted higher numbers.
The variant, B.1.617, was attributed as responsible for the severity of the second wave. The variant is sometimes called “the double mutant,” because it has many more mutations than two.
USA
The first case of person to person transmission in the United States was confirmed by the CDC on January 30, 2020.
On January 31, 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services declared Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency in the US.
As of November 19, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the US stood at 48,398,455.
Some 789,155 people succumbed to the virus while 38,330,073 recovered.
According to global data on Covid-19, the US has 9,279,227 active cases of the Coronavirus with a large majority in Washington.
In terms of vaccination, total doses given stand at 451 million as fully vaccinated people are 195 million which translates to 59.1 per cent of the US population.
The US Government is planning to dedicate billions of dollars to build up vaccine manufacturing to produce at least a billion doses each year.
This is in an effort to shore up global Covid-19 supply for poorer countries while also pre-empting future pandemics.
As part of a public-private partnership, the government said it will draw on knowledge from companies that already use technology to make vaccines.
Its ambitious goal is to get to a point where the US can produce at least a billion doses each year starting around mid-2022, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news.
UNITED KINGDOM
In the United Kingdom, from January 3, 2020 to November 18, 2021, there have been 9,675,062 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 143,360 deaths.
As of November 14, 2021, a total of 109,471,164 vaccine doses had been administered.
More than 50 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine according to BBC.
With almost nine in 10 of those aged 12 or over having had a single jab and eight in 10 having had a second, the country is now running a booster campaign.
All those aged 12 and over are now being offered a Covid vaccine, while over 40s are being asked to book a third, booster dose.
ITALY
Italy is among countries that was badly hit by the pandemic in the last quarter of 2020.
The country has lost a total of 133,034 people to the virus which has infected 4,893,887.
On a positive note, 4,628,340 have successfully recovered .
According to WHO data, Italy government has vaccinated a total of 88,459,929 people as of November 2021.
WUHAN, CHINA
Analysts have reported that the coronavirus pandemic began when animals at the Huanan Market in Wuhan, China passed the virus on to people.
It is said that the first case was a woman who worked as a seafood vendor at the market, who became ill on December 11, 2019.
The virus spread swiftly across the globe killing millions within a span of 365 days.
China is battling the spread of its biggest Covid-19 outbreak caused by the Delta variant, according to numbers announced last week.
According to latest reports the government has set up strict travel restrictions on travellers from a city where infections have grown faster than elsewhere in the country.
Reuters reported that the Chinese authorities said 32 new domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms were reported for November 14, most of which were in northeastern Dalian city.
A dozen province-level regions contained their flare-ups within weeks in the current outbreak, thanks to quick implementation of a complex set of curbs, including rigorous contact tracing, multiple rounds of testing of people in at risk areas, the closure of entertainment and cultural venues and restrictions on tourism and public transport.
As of November 14, mainland China had reported 98,315 confirmed coronavirus cases with symptoms, including domestically transmitted infections and those from overseas. There have been 4,636 deaths.