COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 4 February

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 104.3 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 2.26 million.

A German military plane carrying over 20 doctors and nurses, plus equipment, has arrived in Portugal, to help the country tackle a sharp rise in cases.

Britain has launched a trial to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines are combined in a two-shot schedule.

More than 500 tennis players and officials have been ordered into isolation in Melbourne after a worker at a quarantine hotel tested positive for the virus.

New U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said he is 'deeply optimistic' about the future of travel, despite the impact of the pandemic.

The Democrats, under new US President Joe Biden, are pushing ahead with a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, without Republican support.

South Korea is set to revamp its social distancing guidelines, after criticism for imposing restrictions and curfews on specific businesses.

A new Ipsos survey shows how shopping and eating out has changed during the pandemic. Shopping online has risen, eating out has fallen, but buying locally remains largely unchanged.

2. More people vaccinated than infected

New data suggests that more people have now been vaccinated against COVID-19 than have been infected by the virus.

The data, released yesterday, shows that a total of 104.9 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to University of Oxford-based Our World in Data here and the latest data on Wednesday from the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here. The total vaccinated now exceeds the 104.1 million COVID-19 cases of infection in a Reuters global tracker here.

Despite the milestone, many people have only received the first of two necessary doses. Cases also continue to rise in many countries, with more than 2.2 million deaths now recorded.

3. Strong US economic growth during 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic should ease over the first half of 2021 and give way to 'very strong' US economic growth, the president of the St Louis Fed, James Bullard, said yesterday.

"The health crisis will wane in the months ahead" as vaccinations roll out, he said. Families will then be able to tap into an 'exceptionally high' level of saving and financial resources.

“Monetary and fiscal policies have been especially aggressive, and the associated macroeconomic outcomes have been considerably better than expected,” Bullard said in remarks prepared for delivery at the CFA Society of St. Louis.