COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 16 November – World Economic Forum

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 253.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.1 million. More than 7.54 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

The Czech Republic reported 11,514 new COVID-19 cases for 15 November, the fifth time daily infections have topped 10,000 in past seven days, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.

It came as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised against travel to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Iceland because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in those countries.

China administered about 6.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on 15 November, taking its total to 2.396 billion, data from the National Health Commission showed on Tuesday. It also reported 22 new confirmed coronavirus cases for 15 November compared with 52 a day earlier, its health authority said.

Mexico's health ministry reported 775 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 57 more fatalities on Monday, bringing the country's overall death toll from the pandemic to 291,204 and the total number of cases to 3,846,508.

Russia will lift its COVID-19 ban on flights to countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Mongolia, Costa Rica and Argentina from 1 December, the government coronavirus task force said on Tuesday.

Russia has also granted approval for Pfizer Inc to conduct clinical trials of its experimental antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 in the country, a state registry of medicines showed.

A ban on public sector employees entering their offices if they are unvaccinated and untested for COVID-19 took effect in Egypt on Monday as the government pushes to accelerate vaccination rates in the final weeks of the year.

Nigeria will start a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign later this week, aiming to inoculate half of its targeted population by the end of January, government officials said.

Africa's most-populous country has a goal to vaccinate 111 million people to reach herd immunity.

Under the initiative to start on Friday, 55 million doses or more than a million a day will be administered. The country has to date vaccinated only 2.9% of those eligible to get vaccines.

The plan will see vaccine sites set up at private health facilities, universities, colleges, stadiums, motor parks and shopping malls among other venues.

Boss Mustapha, head of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said the government "has enough vaccines in the pipeline to vaccinate about 50% of the target population by the end of January 2022".

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

Two billion doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine have been supplied worldwide, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker and its partner said on Tuesday, in just under a year since its first approval.

The shot, which is the biggest contributor to the COVAX vaccine sharing scheme backed by the World Health Organization, is being made in 15 countries for supply to more than 170 countries, London-listed AstraZeneca and Oxford University said in a joint statement.

AstraZeneca in June last year signed on India's Serum Institute, the world's biggest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, to help double the vaccine's manufacturing capacity to two billion doses.

In 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was launched at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, with an initial pledge of $750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The aim of Gavi is to make vaccines more accessible and affordable for all - wherever people live in the world.

Along with saving an estimated 10 million lives worldwide in less than 20 years,through the vaccination of nearly 700 million children, - Gavi has most recently ensured a life-saving vaccine for Ebola.

At Davos 2016, we announced Gavi's partnership with Merck to make the life-saving Ebola vaccine a reality.

The Ebola vaccine is the result of years of energy and commitment from Merck; the generosity of Canadas federal government; leadership by WHO; strong support to test the vaccine from both NGOs such as MSF and the countries affected by the West Africa outbreak; and the rapid response and dedication of the DRC Minister of Health. Without these efforts, it is unlikely this vaccine would be available for several years, if at all.

Read more about the Vaccine Alliance, and how you can contribute to the improvement of access to vaccines globally - in our Impact Story.

The vaccine has faced challenges around efficacy data, supplies and links to rare blood clots.

AstraZeneca last week said as the world learns to live with the coronavirus which causes COVID-19, it would begin to earn a modest profit from the shot after having made a commitment to sell it at cost during the pandemic.

The company's chief executive officer, Pascal Soriot, however, reassured that low-income countries would continue to receive vaccines on a non-profit basis.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 16 November - World Economic Forum