South Africa’s government has started vaccinating the nation’s police officers as part of the second phase of its coronavirus vaccination campaign. A vaccination site has been set up at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto In Gauteng province, the epicentre of the country’s devastating third wave.

“It’s [getting vaccinated] gonna make a big difference. I mean, we’re always in contact with people, working with different kinds of people, daily, of which some, we don’t know the status and all that, you see. So for us to be protected, it’s a big bonus for us,” according to Tebogo Rafapa, the constable in the Diepsloot Crime Prevention Unit.

South Africa might be the worst-hit country in the continent with a daily rising record number of new infections brought on by the delta variant of the coronavirus — with over 2 million confirmed cases and around 61,000 deaths.

Meanwhile, Russia on Sunday counted more than 25,000 new daily infections after a week of record death tolls as the highly contagious Delta variant propels a global resurgence of the pandemic.

The coronavirus has killed nearly four million people worldwide, forcing numerous nations to reimpose restrictions well over a year after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Moscow has so far ruled out a new lockdown, but Sunday’s 25,142 infections were the biggest figure since January 2.

Record virus deaths were registered five days in a row rising to 697 on Saturday, before dropping to 663 for Sunday.