COVID-19 continues to grip much of the world with more than 92 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

Nearly 39 million of those cases have been reported across the Americas, along with 925,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Last week alone, 2.5 million people in the Americas were infected with COVID-19.

Meanwhile, eight countries in the Americas have found the new COVID variant first identified in the UK, and two reported another variant from South Africa.

Yet another variant has been detected in Japan, in four travelers from Brazil’s Amazonas state last week.

Concern over that variant originating in Brazil prompted Britain's government on Thursday to ban direct flights from all South American countries as well as Portugal. The measures take effect Friday.

COVID-19 case numbers have continued to rise in every country in South America over the last few weeks.

In North America, the United States continues to log alarming numbers. By Thursday afternoon, Johns Hopkins University reported more than 23 million confirmed cases and more than 386,000 deaths.

More than 38,000 people have died in the U.S. from COVID-19 in the first two weeks of 2021.

Another 92,000 Americans are projected die of COVID-19 over the next three week, according to a forecast published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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