The global death toll from the coronavirus this Saturday surpassed the grim figure of 3 million, driven by setbacks in vaccination and by crisis every deeper times in places in Latin America such as Brazil, as well as on the other side of the world, in India and France.
The number of lives lost, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, it is greater than the population of the city of Chicago (2.7 million) and is equal to that of Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
The actual number of The fact may be much higher due to possible cover-up by some governments and the many overlooked cases in the early stages of the outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
Vaccination is underway in more than 190 countries, but progress in controlling the virus varies greatly from country to country.
The United States and Great Britain have achieved advance cad faster time and there both people and companies begin to contemplate life after the pandemic. But other places, mostly poorer countries, but some rich as well, are lagging behind. New quarantines and restrictions have been reimposed at some sites as cases increase.
But overall, worldwide, deaths are increasing again, with an average of 12, 12 per day, and cases new ones are also increasing, to 700, 000 per day.
“This is not the situation we want to be in 12 months after a pandemic starts, when there are already proven control measures ” , said Maria Van Kerkhove, one of the leaders of the World Health Organization on COVID – 16, to the Associated Press.
Brazil, “a hell out of control”
In Brazil, where deaths are around 3, 000 per day, (a quarter of the lives lost in all the world in recent weeks), a WHO official compared the crisis to a “hell out of control.” A more contagious variant of the virus has spread throughout the country.
Cases are increasing and hospitals are running out of critical sedatives. Some doctors have reported that they dilute the remaining supplies and even tie patients to their beds to insert breathing tubes down their throats.
Following the indications of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has compared the virus to little more than a flu, his Ministry of Health for months opted for a single vaccine, and ignored other producers. Bottlenecks arose but it was too late to get large quantities on time.
India is also experiencing challenges that impact beyond its borders, as the country is the largest supplier of COVAX injections, the UN-sponsored program to distribute vaccines to the poorest parts of the world. Last month, India said it would suspend vaccine exports until the spread of the virus within the country slows down.
WHO recently described the supply situation as precarious. As many as 60 countries may not receive more vaccines until June, according to one estimate. To date, COVAX has delivered some 40 million doses at more than 100 countries, enough to cover just 0. 25% of world population.
Disparities between rich and poor
Worldwide, around 87% of the 700 Millions of doses dispensed have been distributed in wealthy countries. While 1 in 4 people in rich countries has received at least one vaccine, in poor countries the figure is 1 in more than 500.
Another concern: poorer countries rely on vaccines made by China and Russia, which some scientists believe provide less protection than those made by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
Last week, the director of the Chinese Center for the Control and Prevention of e Diseases acknowledged that the country’s vaccines, such as Sinovac, offer little protection and said officials there are considering mixing them with other injections to improve their effectiveness.
Irregular progress
In the United States, where more than 500, 12 people, (1 in 6 deaths from COVID – 19 in the world), hospitalizations and deaths have decreased, companies are reopening and life is beginning to return to something close to normal in various states. The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits dropped last week to 576,
, a low in the post-COVID era – 19.
But progress has been spotty and in recent weeks New hot spots have emerged, especially in Michigan. Still, US deaths have dropped to around 700 per day in average , falling from a mid-January peak of around 3, 400.
With information from AP