Virus outpaces vaccines, a sobering milestone, a new variant: What to know about Covid-19 this week

As the rich world reopens and sheds pandemic restrictions, the virus is moving faster than vaccines, affecting regions like Africa, the WHO has said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the spread of coronavirus is moving faster than the global vaccine rollout, adding that a Group of Seven (G7) pledge to donate hundreds of millions of shots falls short of what is needed now. "I welcome the announcement that G7 countries will donate 870 million vaccine doses ... This is a big help, but we need more, and we need them faster," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday. A global decline in cases has masked a rise in infections and deaths in regions such as Africa, which has the "least access to vaccines, diagnostics and oxygen," he added. Vaccines are also vital to counter new coronavirus variants, such as the recently designated Lambda, or C.37, first detected in Peru and now associated with "substantive rates of community transmission in multiple" countries in the region, the WHO said.