When the novel coronavirus was first detected toward the end of 2019, it sent shock waves across the world. As of mid-April this year, the pandemic had killed more than 6.2 million people globally, according to the World Health Organization, with more than 500 million confirmed cases. The majority of the cases were in Europe (208 million), followed by the Americas (151 million). The number of confirmed cases in Africa also reached 8 million.