KINGSTON, Jamaica — The novel coronavirus has infected more than 221.1 million people, leaving more than 4.5 million dead across 196 countries and territories.

The majority of those infected have recovered and many countries have rolled out vaccine campaigns as economies start to recover from the pandemic.

— Jamaica recorded 837 new COVID-19 cases on Monday and nine deaths, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases to 72,824 and the death toll to 1,646.

— Cuba on Monday became the first country in the world to vaccinate children from the age of two against the virus, using home-grown jabs not recognised by the World Health Organization.

— St Lucia recorded 42 new cases and two deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic as health authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the island is experiencing the fourth wave of the virus.

— The UK government on Monday announced £5.4 billion (6.3 billion euros, US$7.5 billion) in extra funding for the state-funded healthcare system to treat virus cases and clear a massive backlog in routine operations.

— The European Union’s drug regulator said Monday that it has started an expedited evaluation on whether to recommend a booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech.

— The United States is the worst-affected country with 649,426 deaths, followed by Brazil with 583,810, India with 441,042, Mexico 263,470 and Peru 198,523.

Read the full stories:

837 new COVID cases recorded in Jamaica, 9 deaths

In world first, Cuba starts COVID jabs for toddlers

St Lucia records deaths amid fourth wave of COVID pandemic

EU regulator evaluating if COVID vaccine booster is needed

ARE WE FLATTENING THE CURVE?here for interactive chart* with details on Jamaica’s numbers.here for a look at the numbers globally.

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*Data mined from various sources around the world.