More COVID-19 cases are now being recorded worldwide than ever before in the pandemic, surpassing the previous world peak in early January.
The whole picture: At that point, the US and Europe fueled the boom. This time, India is the biggest source of new business.
Send the news: In cities like New Delhi, which closed a new weeklong today, hospitals are overwhelmed, supplies such as oxygen are scarce and mortuaries are overcrowded.
- India now records more than twice as many cases each day as during the first wave in the fall, and in some cities the infection rate per AP has risen by as much as 16x.
India’s peak has already had worldwide consequences because vaccines that would be exported by the world’s largest producer, the Serum Institute of India, were kept for domestic use.
- The institute’s chief executive is now calling on President Biden to repeal a ban on the export of raw materials needed to produce vaccines, which he says is contributing to shortages.
- India has now provided one dose to about 8% of its population, but is unlikely to be able to shoot up fast enough to be vaccinated from the current crisis.
Meanwhile Chile – which has the highest vaccination rate in America, with 41% receiving at least one dose – is also experiencing an increase in cases.
- Experts say political leaders and the public – who are both desperate to return to normal – have overestimated the level of protection offered by one dose of China’s Sinovac vaccine, which WSJ says is minimal.
- However, with two doses, the data show that the vaccine is 67% effective in preventing infection and 80% effective in preventing death.
- This suggests that Chile should be able to achieve herd immunity if it can sustain its vaccination rate, but it will take longer than hoped. Meanwhile, the current wave should be less deadly as many elderly people are protected.
The flip side: The vaccine effect is already evident in Israel, where new cases dropped from an average of 3,954 a day six weeks ago to 167 a day.
- The UK is emerging with increasing confidence as more than half of the population and 90% of the 70s had at least one shot. Deaths have dropped to about 25 a day from more than 1,000 as early as February.
- Other European countries are trying to balance the spread in the hope that rising vaccination rates, coupled with warmer weather, will bring outbreaks under control.
- Switzerland is easing restrictions, even though the number of cases is relatively high, and Greece is returning the trip without quarantine to boost the tourism sector before hoping it will be a major bounce this summer.
In much of the world, however, cases rise faster than the vaccination rates.
- Iran, for example, is recording more cases than ever and more deaths than ever since November. Both numbers are rising dramatically. Meanwhile, only 0.4% of the population has been vaccinated.
Go deeper: Where the vaccines come from and go.