A second wave of Covid-19 had been warned much earlier in the year.
The initial lockdown's were imposed to 'flatten the curve' but experts knew experts knew that once restrictions were lifted the virus would surge once again.
Eight months on from those early predictions, much of the world is now deep into the pandemic's second wave.
In Europe, 14-day incidence rates have soared once again from the lows recorded in July and August. Data from the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) classes the majority of Europe as red based on the EU's new traffic light system for international travel.
The ECDC figures now indicate that only five European countries, including Ireland, have 14-day incidence rates per 100,000 south of the 200 mark.
Public health experts here have hailed Level 3 and subsequent Level 5 measures as a key reason for Ireland's falling incidence rate.
Elsewhere, the figures are not looking nearly as optimistic. Throughout the continent, records are being broken for the daily number of Covid cases being recorded.
During the week, Italy and France both surpassed their record daily case numbers, reporting 37,809 and 60,486 respectively.
On Friday, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 surpassed 300,000 as countries such as the UK, Austria and Portugal opted to tighten restrictions.
Worldwide
A major discussion point during the US presidential elections was Donald Trump's handling of the virus and for good reason.
According to Reuters, the US holds two unenviable records- the highest number of Covid cases confirmed and the highest number of Covid-related deaths, reaching 9.9 million and 237,289 respectively.
On Friday, the US also surpassed their record number of daily cases with 129,606 and yesterday, Texas became the first state to pass one million cases.
There are three European countries in the top ten in regards highest number of confirmed cases; France at 5th, followed by Spain at 6th and the UK at 8th.
India has passed 8.5 million cases putting them in second after the US, followed by Brazil, recording 5.6 million cases up to November 8th.
Reports today confirm that the Indian capital of New Delhi is reporting 7,000 additional cases on average each day.
Although Ireland may be waiting for Level 5 restrictions to end on December 1st, it remains clear that until we find a vaccine these waves will continue to break.
