UNICEF estimates that 2,500 ailing children need immediate evacuation from Gaza for treatment abroad.

A surge in virus cases and deaths is hitting all regions of the world.

Mexico City’s hospitals hold more virus patients than ever. Even pandemic success story Thailand is fighting an unexpected wave of infections. January is going to be “a tough one,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. Mexico’s capital has more virus patients than at any point in the pandemic and is flying in doctors from less hard-hit states. The pandemic is even reaching countries that seemed to have the virus under control.

A Russian medical worker adminsters a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Russian health authorities have launched advanced trials of the vaccine among 40,000 volunteers, a randomized, placebo-controlled study. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)MOSCOW – What do you do when Vladimir Putin offers you Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, for free? The virus has not spared the staff of the United Nations, its headquarters and regional entities,” Putin said in a prerecorded speech from Moscow. On Monday, Russian media reported that the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, praised the vaccine after a meeting with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in Moscow.