Over 1.5 million people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on a weekly average, as vaccinations are set to begin in December in a handful of developed nations.
Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the severity of the pandemic is far from over. Nearly 65 million people globally have been infected by the disease and the worst affected country, United States, is currently battling a third wave of coronavirus infections.
The United States set single-day records for new infections and deaths on Thursday as California’s governor said he would impose some of the nation’s strictest stay-at-home orders in the coming days when intensive care units are expected to reach capacity.More than 211,762 new cases and 2,858 deaths were confirmed as of Thursday evening by a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations topped 100,000.
In the last week alone, more than 10,000 people in the world died on average every single day, which has been steadily rising each passing week. Many countries across the world are now fighting second and third waves even greater than the first, forcing new restrictions on everyday life. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
The novel coronavirus caused more deaths in the past year than tuberculosis in 2019 and nearly four times the number of deaths due to malaria, according to the World Health Organisation.
Robert Redfield, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned on Wednesday that the pandemic will pose the country’s grimmest health crisis yet over the next few months, before vaccines become widely available.
“I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation,” Redfield told a livestream presentation hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
The United States continues to lead in terms of fatalities, with over 273,000 deaths alone. North America and Latin American regions combined have more than 50% of all coronavirus deaths that have been reported.
The Latin American region, the worst-affected globally in terms of fatalities, recently surpassed over 450,000 deaths.
VACCINE HOPES
On Wednesday, Britain became the first country to approve the vaccine candidate developed by Germany’s BioNTech and Pfizer Inc, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin a crucial mass inoculation programme.
However, supplies are expected to be very limited in the early stages which means that every country beginning the drive will have to prioritise based on risk factors.
U.S. health regulators are expected to approve distribution and administration of the vaccine in mid-December.
Africa aims to have 60% of its population vaccinated against COVID-19 within the next two to three years, the African Union’s disease control group said on Thursday. The continent of 1.3 billion people has recorded more than 2.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally.
US
California Governor Gavin Newsom said four of the regions, including Southern California, were on track to reach the 15% threshold this week, with the San Francisco Bay area expected to follow by mid- to late December.
The stay-at-home restrictions will begin with 48 hours’ notice and remain in place for at least three weeks once they are ordered. California is the most-populous U.S. state, with almost 40 million residents.
“If we don’t act now, our hospital system will be overwhelmed. If we don’t act now, we will continue to see the death rate climb,” Newsom said in a livestreamed news briefing from his home in suburban Sacramento.
Health experts predict that an even greater surge could kill about 3,000 people a day over the next two months.
Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said earlier this week that December, January and February were likely to be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”
“Before we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans that have died from this virus,” Redfield said. At least 273,000 people in the United States have perished from the virus since February.