More than 63.37 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,475,392 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Italy will launch a massive, free coronavirus vaccination programme early next year, with health workers and the elderly to be given priority, Health Minister Roberto Speranza told parliament on Wednesday. Speranza said the government had options to buy 202 million COVID-19 vaccine shots from various companies. Italy was the first Western country hit by the virus, registering 56,361 COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak emerged in February, the second highest toll in Europe after Britain's. It has also registered 1.62 million cases to date. The number of coronavirus cases recorded in Poland passed 1 million on Wednesday and a second wave of the pandemic is proving more serious than the first. The daily number of new cases has dropped since a surge in October and early November, but Poland has one of the lowest testing rates in the European Union and one of the highest proportions of positive tests. On Wednesday, a further 13,855 coronavirus cases and 609 deaths were reported, health ministry data showed, bringing the total to 1,013,747 confirmed cases and 18,208 deaths. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
