Global coronavirus deaths topped 3 million on Saturday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. This means that more people have died of coronavirus than live in Lisbon, Portugal or Chicago, Illinois.
More than a third of these deaths occurred in just three counties: the United States, Brazil and India.
The United States accounts for far the majority of coronavirus deaths in the world, largely due to a devastating winter wave. More than 566,000 people in the United States have died so far from coronavirus – almost 20% of the global total.
Brazil reported nearly 370,000 total coronavirus deaths, while India reported about 175,000.
“This is not the situation we want to be in for 16 months in a pandemic in which we have proven control measures,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical director of the World Health Organization for COVID-19, said earlier this week. “It’s time for everyone to take stock and check the reality of what we need to do.”
The world reached a similar stage in January, when coronavirus deaths exceeded 2 million. Coronavirus deaths exceeded 1 million in September.
But the landscape of the pandemic is different now: countries are in a race to get gunshots as soon as possible, as they fight more contagious variants that, in some cases, can evade protection against vaccines.
The supply of available vaccine is still low in many parts of the world: COVAX, the UN-sponsored program to ensure equal distribution of coronavirus vaccines, has delivered only sufficient doses to about 0.25% of the world’s population. In low-income countries, only 1 in more than 500 people were shot, compared to 1 in 4 in high-income countries, according to the WHO.
Especially in India and Brazil, the slow launch of vaccines, the lack of social distance and the spread of variants have pushed hospitals into crisis mode again.
Large gatherings abound in India as the dead grow
India has immunized less than 8% of its population since it began its national vaccination program just three months ago. During this time, the average number of daily deaths from coronavirus increased more than fourfold, from about 180 per day to over 1,000 per day. Local media reported long lines at hospitals, ventilator deficiencies and crumbling bodies at crematoria.
“Earlier 15 to 20 bodies came in a day and now about 80 to 100 bodies come daily,” said Kamlesh Sailor, president of a trust operating a crematorium in Surat, Bloomberg earlier this week. .
At the same time, residents gathered for major events that could fuel the spread of the virus, including election rallies, festivals and religious pilgrimages. At least 50 million Hindus crowded along the Ganga River earlier this week for a religious festival that has now been linked to at least 2,000 cases of coronavirus.
Like many countries, India is dealing with its own local variants: Scientists in the Indian state of Maharashtra identified a new strain in March, accounting for between 15% and 20% of cases.
A health worker administers the AstraZeneca vaccine to a member of the Gurugram Police in Gurugram, India, on February 5, 2021.
Vipin Kumar / Hindustan Times / Getty Images
A “furious hell of an outbreak” in Brazil
Also, the average daily deaths caused by coronavirus in Brazil have doubled in the last three months, from about 950 per day to over 2,800 per day. Overwhelmed hospitals now have only extra oxygen and sedatives.
“What you’re dealing with here is a furious hell of an outbreak,” Bruce Aylward, WHO’s senior adviser to the director-general, said in an April 9 press briefing.
In December, Brazil becomes a hot spot for P.1, a more contagious variant that appears to be partially evading immunity from previous vaccines or infections.
A March study suggested that P.1 was 40% to 120% more transmissible than previous versions of the virus. Researchers at Brazil’s public health agency Fiocruz warned last Wednesday that the variant was moving in “particularly worrying” ways that could make it more resistant to vaccines.
Meanwhile, only 12% of Brazil’s population has been vaccinated so far.
The remains of a woman who died from complications related to COVID-19 are placed in a niche by cemetery workers and relatives at Inahuma Cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 13, 2021.
AP Photo / Silvia Izquierdo
Brazil rejected an offer to buy 70 million doses of Pfizer vaccine in August, instead betting on the AstraZeneca shot to lead the vaccine launch. With doses from the nation’s two largest laboratories, which are now rare, Brazil relies on spare doses of China’s Sinovac film.
“The big problem is that Brazil did not look for alternatives when it had the opportunity,” Claudio Maierovitch, a former head of Brazil’s health regulator, told the Associated Press. “When several countries made bets, signing contracts with various suppliers, the Brazilian government did not even have vaccination on its agenda.”
The language from the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, also fueled the skepticism of the vaccine. Bolsonaro previously joked that Pfizer’s shot could “turn you into an alligator.”
During the pandemic, Bolsonaro questioned the effectiveness of the masks, rejected calls for blockades and suggested that the virus was nothing more than a “small flu”.