The Alpha variant, first identified in Kent, United Kingdom (UK), performed a large jump in its ability to transmit. Now the Delta variant, seen first in India, has leapt further still.This is evolution in action.So, are we doomed to a never-ending parade of new and improved variants that get harder and harder to contain? Or is there a limit to how much worse the coronavirus can become?It's worth remembering the journey this virus is on.

The United States (US) will donate 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer nations, the White House said Thursday, to "supercharge" the pandemic fight as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Europeans not to drop their guard because vaccination levels there remain too low to stop another wave of infections.Both moves signalled that while pockets of the rich world have scored successes against the virus, gains are fragile and billions of mostly poor people remain unprotect

The pandemic slowed for the fifth week in a row around the world, especially in Europe and Asia, including in India, which nevertheless continued to bear the brunt.Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database.15 Percent Drop The number of new daily COVID-19 cases around the globe dropped by 15 percent over the week, according to an AFP toll to Thursday.The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with different

Five-year-old Pratham and his 10-month-old brother Ayush lost their father to COVID in April. Days later, at a different Delhi hospital, they lost their mother.Their world had changed and they didn't even know it. They couldn't understand why their parents were taking so long to come home. Relatives told Pratham that his mum and dad had gone out for work.

Vietnam has discovered a new COVID-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains, health officials confirmed Saturday.The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more than half of its territory, including industrial zones and big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City."We have discovered a new hybrid variant from the Indian and the UK strains," Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long told a national meeting on the pande

“There are three kinds of lies,” Mark Twain famously wrote. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Too often, the COVID-19 crisis has lent support to the suspicions Twain’s bon mot expresses. Data is critical to fighting the pandemic, but cross-country comparisons have focused too much on the wrong sort.

India has recorded 26 million COVID-19 cases – second only to the United States (US). It is the new epicentre of the global pandemic.The second wave in recent weeks has overwhelmed the healthcare system, leaving hospitals struggling to cope and critical drugs and oxygen in short supply.But infections now seem to be slowing down.

The United Nations (UN) on Monday declared the world "at war" against COVID-19, as India's death toll passed 300,000 and Japan opened its first mass vaccination centres.But just two months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the United States (US) on Monday advised its citizens against travelling there.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments to apply wartime logic to stark inequalities in the response to the pandemic.Despite rapidly advancing vaccination rollouts in we

Almost one-quarter of humanity lives on the Indian subcontinent. That fact is easily forgotten elsewhere, as world leaders focus on combating outbreaks of COVID-19 and its new variants within their own countries. But when our descendants pass judgment on this moment in history, they won’t remember just the lockdowns, face masks, and vaccination programs. They will also remember India and its neighbours.

Singapore's government has said there is "no truth" to an assertion by Delhi's chief minister that a new variant of the coronavirus has been detected in the city state.Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had called for a halt to flights, saying a new "Singapore strain" was "extremely dangerous for children".He added that it could result in a third wave of the infection in India.Singapore's ministry of health has reacted strongly to the clai