With mass vaccination programmes still in their infancy and struggling with supply, unpopular restrictions on business, movement and travel remain among the few options available to governments in their fight against the virus.
Even nations that have largely brought their outbreaks under control are wary of a resurgence. The lockdown in Perth, Australia, was ordered after a security guard at a quarantine hotel tested positive. Despite the number of infections and deaths remaining high, the outbreak in the United States appears to be easing, with new cases and hospitalisations down two weeks in a row.
The recently launched vaccination drives in many countries are stumbling because of supply shortages, which have also sparked a bitter diplomatic row between the EU and Britain.