(VOVWORLD) - According to worldometers.info, as of Sunday morning, more than 85 million COVID-19 infection cases have been confirmed worldwide, with over 1.84 million fatalities.
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 A man gets vaccinated for COVID-19 in Tel Aviv, Israel, on December 31, 2020.
(Photo: xinhuanews/VNA)
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The US remains the hardest hit country by the epidemic. On Saturday alone, it recorded the highest number of the new infection cases in a day, with more than 277,000 people. The US has nearly 21 million cases and 360,000 deaths. It is followed by India and Brazil.
Italy has postponed the reopening of its ski resorts until January 18, after regional authorities asked for more time to meet coronavirus regulations.
In Asia, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reports 657 new coronavirus cases for Saturday and additional 20 deaths.
On Saturday, Lebanon’s Specialized Committee on combating COVID-19 recommended the imposition of a 3-week lockdown.
On the same day, the Palestinian Authority decided to extend the lockdown for another two weeks to prevent the rapid spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The decision takes effect from January 3.
In related news, Israel has become the world leader in vaccination rates when it completed the first batch of COVID-19 vaccination for more than 1 million people, accounting for 10% of the population. It’s followed by Bahrain with a rate of 3.49%.
Although the US, China, and UK have ordered large numbers of vaccine doses, the vaccination rates in these countries remain low, only 0.84% in the US, 0.31% in China and 1.47% in the UK.