According statistics by John Hopkings university, COVID-19 cases have surpassed 10 million, with a global death toll of approximately half a million.

The most affected countries are the US, Brazil, Russia and India, standing at more than 2.5 million, 1.3 million, 600,000 and 500,000 cases respectively.

In Egypt, while the government has taken on new measures to ‘co-exist’ with the virus, cases have reached almost 64,000 with a death toll of 2,700.

The staggering number, which took around seven months to come about across over 200 countries, only shows prospects of increasing as various countries worldwide ease lock-down measures, especially due to economic repercussions brought on by the pandemic.

Indeed, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020. Shortly after, international flights temporarily halted, borders closed and citizens worldwide were encouraged to stay at home, abide by social distancing measures and wear masks as to keep themselves and others safe.

With daily life beyond the home resuming, there is, however, still no consensus on a vaccine as human-trials on various options are ongoing. It would take no less than a year before a vaccine could be made available and even longer for it to be distributed.

The re-opening measures are not without risks; indeed, some countries such as China and Singapore have experienced second waves of quick infection rates.

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