KINGSTON, Jamaica — The novel coronavirus has infected more than 261.4 million people, leaving more than 5.7 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 reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 and seven fatalities on Tuesday, pushing the total number of cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic to 126,437 and the death toll to 2,706.

— Canada’s Saskatchewan province announced Tuesday the lifting of all COVID restrictions including wearing of masks and proof of vaccination for indoor dining, as truckers continued occupying Ottawa with similar demands.

— The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday lamented that half a million people have died of the virus since the Omicron variant was discovered, calling the toll “beyond tragic”.

— The WHO also urged rich countries to pay their fair share of the money needed for its plan to conquer COVID-19 by contributing US$16 billion as a matter of urgency.

— The Air Force on Tuesday became the second military service to approve religious exemptions to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, granting requests from nine airmen to avoid the shots.

— The US has recorded the most COVID deaths with 909,020, followed by Brazil with 633,810, India with 505,279 and Russia with 337,390.

Read more:

Jamaica reports 87 new COVID cases, seven deaths

Canada province lifts all COVID restrictions amid protests

Air Force approves nine religious exemptions for COVID vaccine

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.