In this file photo taken on Dec 8, 2021, a woman is vaccinated by a member of the Western Cape Metro EMS in an ambulance which has been converted to facilitate vaccinations at a COVID-19 vaccination event in Cape Town. RODGER BOSCH / AFP

NEW YORK / HAVANA - The global COVID-19 death toll has exceeded 6 million, according to the latest data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University on Monday. 

According to the World Health Organization, Europe had the highest number of infections as of Friday with 181,275,264 confirmed cases, while the Americas ranked second with 147,655,931 confirmed cases.

The United States, India and Brazil were the top three countries with the highest number of confirmed cases, it said.

The WHO also reported that nearly 10.6 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally as of Feb 27.   

Mordena 

Moderna Inc said on Monday it would set up a manufacturing facility in Kenya, its first in Africa, to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including COVID-19 shots.

Moderna Inc said on Monday it would set up a manufacturing facility in Kenya, its first in Africa, to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, including COVID-19 shots

Moderna said it expects to invest about $500 million in the Kenyan facility and supply as many as 500 million doses of mRNA vaccines to the continent each year. It also has plans to start filling doses of its COVID vaccine in Africa as early as 2023.

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Africa has lagged sharply behind other regions in vaccinating its citizens through the pandemic and there have been several efforts in recent months to help the continent produce its own mRNA COVID-19 shots.

The World Health Organization last year set up a tech transfer hub in South Africa to give poorer nations the know-how to produce COVID-19 vaccines and has been trying to get Moderna and Pfizer to join in its efforts.

However, a senior WHO official said in September that there had not been much progress in talks with Moderna.

WHO-backed South Africa's Afrigen Biologics said in February it would produce a version of Moderna's shot, though it has not yet managed to enlist the US vaccine maker's assistance. 

BioNTech, which teamed up with Pfizer to make the western world's most widely-used COVID-19 shot, has also announced plans to begin work on its mRNA manufacturing facility in the African Union this year.

Moderna's Kenyan facility would manufacture drug substance and could be expanded to include fill/finish and packaging capabilities, the company said.

Moderna's COVID vaccine brought in $17.7 billion in sales in 2021 and has been cleared for use in over 70 countries.

The company is developing several other vaccines based on mRNA technology, including for respiratory syncytial virus, HIV and shingles.

Laboratory graduate Addaimis Medina works at the Varadero International Clinic, where the cases of tourists suspected of COVID-19 are classified, in Varadero, Cuba on Sept 3, 2021. (YAMIL LAGE / AFP)

Cuba

The number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths in Cuba has continued to fall in the past week as more than half of the country's population has received an additional COVID-19 vaccine dose.

It comes as the Caribbean nation on Sunday registered 482 coronavirus cases and one more related death, taking the national counts to 1,072,956 and 8,500, respectively, according to the health ministry.

At present, there are 2,365 active cases of COVID-19 in Cuba, with 23 in intensive care units.

So far, 9.8 million of Cuba's 11.2 million residents have been vaccinated with domestic COVID-19 vaccines as some 6 million people have received a booster dose, the ministry said.

The island country has already administered more than 35 million doses of Soberana 02, Abdala, and Soberana Plus COVID-19 vaccines.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel noted the importance of the COVID-19 booster drive to keep the pandemic at bay in the coming months.

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Meanwhile, the number of local COVID-19 cases across the country has continued to drop for the fourth consecutive week.

Francisco Duran, Cuba's top epidemiologist, urged people to take measures to minimize the risk of contagion with the virus among senior citizens, pregnant women, and children.

While most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, mask requirements in public areas remain.

In addition, passengers arriving in Cuba need to show PCR results from within 72 hours upon arrival and proof of vaccination against COVID-19.