The number of lives lost by the pandemic is almost equal to the population in Kiev, Ukraine or Caracas, Venezuela.
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus has shown an incredible three million, with cases of more than 140 million, amid repeated setbacks in the vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France.
The number of lives lost on Saturday, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is roughly equal to the population of Kiev (Ukraine), Caracas (Venezuela) or Lisbon (Portugal). This is higher than the Chicago population of 2.7 million and equivalent to Philadelphia and Dallas combined.
The actual number is believed to be significantly higher due to possible concealment by the government, and the many cases overlooked in the early stages of the outbreak, by the end of 2019, are the first in Wuhan, China, reported.
When the world crossed the grim threshold of two million deaths in January this year, immunization drives had just begun in Europe and the United States.
Today, vaccination is underway in more than 190 countries, although progress in bringing the virus under control varies widely.
While the campaigns in the US and the UK have progressed and people and businesses there are beginning to consider living after the pandemic, other places, mostly poorer countries but also rich ones, are lagging behind to shoot guns and have new closures and other restrictions instituted as virus cases increase.
“This is not the situation where we want to be a pandemic within 16 months, where we have proven controls,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, one of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 experts.
In Brazil, where the deaths amount to about 3,000 a day, which is responsible for a quarter of the lives lost worldwide in recent weeks, the crisis is being compared by a WHO official to a ‘furious inferno’.
A more contagious variant of the virus is starting to spread across the country.
As the cases increase, the critical sedatives in hospitals run out. As a result, there have been reports of some doctors diluting what is out there, and even tying patients to their beds while breathing tubes are pushed into their throats.
Referring to President Jair Bolsonaro, who compared the virus to little more than flu, his health ministry has for months ignored big bets on a single vaccine and other producers. When bottlenecks appeared, it was too late to get large quantities in time.
In India, cases increased in February after weeks of steady decline, which surprised authorities. In a surge driven by variants of the virus, India has spotted more than 200,000 daily infections in the past week, bringing the total number of cases to more than 14.5 million.
Vaccines
The WHO recently described the situation with the offer of vaccinations as uncertain.
Up to 60 countries may not receive more shots, according to June. To date, COVAX, the global fair access initiative for COVID-19 vaccines, has delivered approximately 40 million doses in more than 100 countries, enough to cover barely 0.25 percent of the world population.
Worldwide, about 87 percent of the 700 million doses are distributed in rich countries.
While one in four people in affluent countries has received a vaccine, the figure is one in more than 500.
Over the past few days, the U.S. and some European countries have suspended the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine while authorities investigate extremely rare but dangerous blood clots. The AstraZeneca vaccine was also hit with delays and restrictions due to a coagulation anxiety.