WORLD

Pandemic Haunts New Year As Virus Growth Outpaces Vaccines

By jsalinas 01/05/2021239 views

A man wearing a British union flag face mask walks past a coronavirus advice sign outside a bank in Glasgow the morning after stricter lockdown measures came into force for Scotland, Tuesday Jan. 5, 2021. Further measures were put in place Tuesday as part of lockdown restrictions in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus.(Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)

(AP) — Despite growing vaccine access, January is looking grim around the globe as the virus resurges and reshapes itself from Britain to Japan to California. It’s filling hospitals anew and shutting down livelihoods as governments race to find solutions like lockdowns to keep people apart.

Mexico City’s hospitals hold more virus patients than they ever have. Germany reported one of its highest daily death tolls to date Tuesday. Even virus success story Thailand is fighting an unexpected wave of infections.

Doctors are facing or bracing for rising numbers of COVID-19 patients after end-of-year holiday gatherings. And more and more countries are reporting cases of a new, more contagious variant of the virus that has already rampaged across Britain.