(VOVWORLD) - 214.7 million COVID-19 infections had been confirmed globally as of Thursday noon, and 4.47 million deaths, according to worldometers.info.
 A child is tested for coronavirus in Compton, California (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
In the US, the hardest-hit nation, the number of COVID-19 cases among children has reached levels higher than at any other point in the pandemic. So far this week 180,000 child cases have been detected, four times the number reported last week. Severe illness caused by COVID-19 is still relatively rare among children, however.
Total infections in the US have reached 39 million and fatalities have neared 650,000.
On Wednesday, Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization, said uneven distribution of vaccines compromises the region’s pandemic response. 12 million doses have been delivered via the COVAX facility from the US, Spain, Norway, France, and Sweden to Latin America and the Caribbean, but this is far short of the number needed to protect the vulnerable.