Daily cases of COVID-19 are currently falling across most of the world, and deaths — which had been climbing globally until late January — are also beginning to decrease.
The big picture: We can only learn so much from this 30,000-foot view, and there's plenty to fear from the emerging variants. Plus, cases and deaths had been so high that even after climbing down from the peak, we're still pretty close to the summit.
- But this is the first time since the pandemic began where cases are falling in basically every region of the world at the same time. On a global level, virtually the only number that is rising is vaccine doses administered.
- And in some places — south Asia for example — there's growing confidence that the worst of the pandemic may be over even before vaccines become widely available.
Our thought bubble: Optimism has not aged well during this pandemic, and this chart could look very different in a few weeks' time.