In a nutshell: Covid-19 globally

South Africa added another vaccine to its checklist after the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority approved the Pfizer/biontech Comirnaty vaccine. We have ordered 20-million doses, but it’s uncertain when they will arrive. Several European countries have halted the use of the Astrazeneca vaccine after reports of blood clots in some people who received it were recorded. While a danger has not yet been scientifically confirmed, the halting resulted in many delays in the EU’S vaccine roll-out programmes. In Brazil, the death toll due to Covid-19 is still at a record high, averaging for the last seven days at 1 965 daily deaths. The country’s health service is also on the brink of collapse, says Brazil’s health institute Fiocruz. Meanwhile, in the US, the 89-year-old Robert Holzman was recorded dancing after receiving his vaccine. In fact, he told the BBC, he received the vaccine as soon as he could just to be able to dance again. Holzman hopes he can once again participate at the May dance series held annually in a New York public park, where he will dance “with gratitude” this year, after surviving the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.