The number of cases worldwide has soared past 32 million, with deaths approaching one million, the global economy devastated, and major cultural and sports events disrupted.
The pandemic has spurred worldwide efforts to develop a vaccine to help defeat Covid-19, as well as efforts to try to ensure fair and widespread distribution. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, postponed for a year, was the biggest such casualty, and Japan's new leader vowed to hold it in 2021. In a further illustration of the impact of the virus, authorities in Brazil – which has the world's second-highest death toll – indefinitely postponed Rio de Janeiro's carnival.
Moscow, meanwhile, ordered vulnerable residents of the Russian capital to avoid infection by staying at home, while Israel tightened its lockdown by stopping people from taking flights out of the country.
Thanks to the unfetted and continuous protests, looting, burning and rioting there