India, world struggle with COVID-19 infections and concerns are endless

The second coronavirus wave shows no sign of abating.

If we see India's number, daily infections set a world record today.

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More than 314,000 new cases were recorded in a day, taking the nation's tally to almost 16 million cases.

It is the second-highest in the world.

Also read | India's new daily Covid cases top 300,000, highest in the world

The worse part is, India is struggling with shortages from medicines to oxygen.

But it's not all bad news as the recoveries bring hope. 

Over 13 million people or more than 84 per cent of patients in India have recovered from the deadly virus. 

As many as 1.16 per cent or 180,000 people have died.

India's best bet to curb this surge is to vaccinate as many people as possible promptly. 

So far, more than 130 million doses have been given.

Not even 0.1 per cent of people got infected after taking the vaccine shots.

The percentage of people who have been infected is not more than 0.04 per cent, meaning only two to four people out of 10,000 actually got infected after taking the shots.

On May 1, India will open its vaccination programme to all adults above the age of 18.

What's happening with the world

Numbers are not as bad as India, but not good either.

The surge in Europe and South America began in March and it's not slowing down.

In all, more than 143 million people have been infected since last year and over three million have died worldwide.

In the last 14 days, the cases have grown by 23 per cent and deaths rose by 14 per cent.

Countries are stepping up vaccination and over 944 million doses have been administered in 170 countries.

The daily average is 16 million doses, but at this rate, we'll take years to achieve global herd immunity. 

The EU booked more than a billion shots in advance, but the vaccination campaign has struggled to take off.

And now the bloc is preparing to sue AstraZeneca. Reports say the European Commission will launch legal proceedings against the company. AstraZeneca was supposed to supply at least 300 million doses to the EU, but it has slashed its deliveries by two thirds because of manufacturing and other issues.

Also, vaccine counterfeiting is happening in Poland and Mexico.

Fake Pfizer vaccines are on sale here at a price of 1,000 dollars a shot.

"It was an underground operation, a kind of clinic, which had been made known through various online media," Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, Mexico's deputy health secretary, said. 

"This clinic was found selling what were supposed to be Pfizer vaccines, at exorbitant prices of up to 40,000-50,000 pesos for the vaccine."

Reports say the vials were found in beer coolers.

Some 80 people got the fake Pfizer shot in Mexico.

Fortunately, they were harmless injections, but the prospect is scary.

The cases are rising, countries are squabbling, there is a shortage of vaccines and now fake jabs have become an issue. 

The world needs united global leadership to defeat the pandemic, but where are the leaders?