The world this year

The year was once again dominated by the covid-19 pandemic, as new waves of infection swept across countries. India’s second wave proved far more deadly than the first one in 2020. By May the government was reporting 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths a day, although the true numbers were much higher. After a shaky start in some places the roll-out of vaccines in the rich world was, by and large, a success, curbing hospitalisations (the Omicron variant may threaten that good work). Distribution of the doses remains uneven: poorer countries have received far fewer. The WHO warned recently that the donation of vaccines to Africa has been “ad hoc”, making it hard to plan inoculation drives.