The world recorded an additional 6,618 deaths due to Covid-19 on November 15, bringing the number of deaths from the pandemic to 1,323,878.

The United States, the largest epidemic region in the world, recorded 11,355,161 cases of infection and 251,812 deaths after reporting an additional 127,031 and 559 cases, respectively. California and Texas became the first two states to record more than one million cases of infection in the United States.

Moncef Slaoui, co-leader of the US government’s rapid vaccine research campaign, announced on November 13 that about 20 million people could be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine next month.

However, as nCoV infections and deaths in the US continue to rise, Reuters has released an analysis showing that the country could record an additional 13 million nCoV infections until the new president takes office on January 20.

India, the second largest epidemic area in the world, reported an additional 29,035 cases of infection and 408 deaths, bringing the total number of people infected and dead from Covid-19 to 8,843,937 and 130,082 respectively.

The capital New Delhi late on November 12 recorded a record high of new daily infections with more than 7,000 cases in just 24 hours.

A woman runs past police officers in Marseille, France, on October 31.

Brazil, the third largest epidemic area in the world, recorded 125 more deaths from nCoV, bringing the total number of deaths to 165,798.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said handling the pandemic would be easier and less expensive if it invested in drugs instead of vaccines, and continued to promote the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, despite evidence showing it is not effective.

France reported 1,981,827 cases and 44,548 deaths after recording an additional 27,228 cases and 302 deaths.

Paris police on November 14 announced that they were investigating an illegal party taking place in Joinville-Le-Pont, near the capital, with up to 400 people attending despite bans to prevent Covid-19.

A survey found that more than half of the population has violated the current partial lockdown regulations.

The UK reported an additional 24,962 cases and 168 deaths, bringing cases and deaths to 1,369,318 and 51,934 respectively.

On October 31, the UK re-imposed a nationwide blockade. This is one of the strictest restrictions since World War II, in which people are required to stay at home and only go out for certain reasons such as traveling.

Germany recorded 14,045 new infections and 43 deaths, bringing infections and deaths to 802,944 and 12,692 respectively.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on November 14 that the country could extend restrictive measures to prevent Covid-19 for another 4-5 months.

The blockade order to prevent Covid-19 faced strong opposition from the German people when about 600 people from the Querdenker movement, an organization protesting the government’s pandemic control measures, took to the streets to protest on January 14.

South Africa is the country most heavily affected by the pandemic in Africa, recording 751,024 cases of infection and 20,241 deaths, an increase of 1,842 and 35 cases respectively.

South Africa began easing restrictions to the lowest level in September, after the rate of new infections decreased, and opened its borders to international passengers from early October after a 6-month ban.

Iran, the largest epidemic region in the Middle East, reported 41,493 deaths, an increase of 459, out of a total of 762,068 cases, an increase of 12,543.

Iran’s Ministry of Health said on November 15 that officials in this country are considering applying new restrictive measures to prevent Covid-19 nationwide from November 21 after daily nCoV infections continued to increase.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is the largest epidemic area in the region with 467,113 cases, an increase of 4,106 compared to the previous day, of which 15,211 deaths, an increase of 63 cases.

The Philippines reported 407,838 cases of infection and 7,832 deaths, an increase of 1,530 and 41 cases respectively, making it the second largest epidemic in the region.

This week, the world received positive information about the Covid-19 vaccine, but a leading expert from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of misinformation and loss of public trust.