New cases are being logged at the fastest rate so far, health systems in many countries are being swamped, and much of Europe is heading back under the lockdown "doona".

Just when it seems Australians may be able to enjoy some sort of "COVID-19 normal" Christmas billions of people are doing it tougher than ever as second waves rage out of control.

While the presidential election continues to dominate all else in the US, medically it is not tracking well. America recently passed the eight million cases mark. There have been serious spikes in many states in recent days. New infections and hospitalisations are running at record levels in the mid-west.

Across the Atlantic Boris Johnson is under fire for ignoring medical advice by not reimposing a lockdown weeks ago, apparently because he fears doing even further damage to the economy. The wisdom of that strategy is about to be tested by the Welsh government's decision to go it alone with a "short, sharp lockdown" of its own. If this proves effective Johnson is going to have some very hard questions to answer.

The EU countries, early victims of open borders and highly mobile populations, have been hard hit by second waves in the last week. Parts of Spain and Italy, and all of Ireland, are already back in lockdown as of Wednesday night. The Irish lockdown will stay in force for the next six weeks.

Italy's Campania region is expected to be under curfew from the weekend and, as of Tuesday, Naples only had 15 vacant ICU beds. In Poland, which reported 9,291 new infections on Tuesday, there have been reports of patients dying when ambulances weren't able to find a hospital that was able to admit them.

In Hungary more people have died from COVID-19 than during the previous four months combined. It, like Poland, is holding off on introducing more stringent controls.

In Russia, despite the recent announcement of a vaccine, case numbers are still climbing with a record 16,319 being reported on Tuesday. Almost a third of these were in Moscow alone.

South America, meanwhile, is one of the hardest hit parts of the world. It is home to five of the 10 nations reporting the highest number of confirmed cases. This is placing an immense strain on medical services across the continent. Brazil and Argentina have both recorded more than a million cases. Colombia, Mexico, and Peru are all expected to reach that milestone in a matter of weeks.

All of these figures are arguably academic however. According to the World Health Organisation the actual number of cases around the world is more likely to be 780 million people than the "official" 40.7 million. Inadequate testing, under reporting and a lack of medical resources in many poorer nations are to blame for the massive discrepancy. In many parts of Africa, for example, nobody can say with any degree of certainty what is going on. And, according to at least one report, "some governments have concealed the true number of cases".

These grim statistics highlight the need for Australians to continue to monitor what is happening outside our borders. Despite all the internal controversy and interstate bickering this is still very much the lucky country.

This crisis is far from over. The threat of another wave is very real. Complacency is arguably the biggest threat that all Australians, regardless of where they live, now face.