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The steady pace of death due to the global Covid-19 pandemic continues unabated despite global vaccination efforts and is now increasingly supported by the world’s poorest places.
More than 3 million lives have been lost as a result of the new coronavirus that appeared in 2019, with the last 1 million deaths coming even faster than the first two. It took about 8.5 months after China’s initial fatality to mark the first million and only another 3.5 months to reach the second million.
A mourner stands next to the coffin of a Covid-19 victim in a cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 24.
Photographer: Victor Moriyama / Bloomberg
The death toll topped 3 million on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University, just about three months after crossing the 2 million mark on January 15. hopes that the end of the pandemic will be visible with the widespread use of vaccines.
The actual death toll in Covid-19 is probably far away more than 3 million, due to under- and non-uniform reporting worldwide.
The bleak benchmark highlights a growing disparity in the fight against the pandemic, which runs parallel to the gap in access to vaccines. While mortality rates have fallen sharply in the US and parts of Europe due to vaccine launches that promise a return to a normal appearance of life, the developing world – especially Brazil – should have a number of raised by the dead.
Only five seats account for about half of the last million deaths. Only the USA claimed 18% of the world total, still the largest share of the country.
But the terrain is changing. The burden of mortality is growing in less rich parts of the world, including those struggling to access vaccines. Of the last million deaths, Brazil’s share increased by 9.5 percentage points compared to the previous million deaths, followed by Mexico and Peru.
Another million
Five countries account for half of the last million deaths
Source: Johns Hopkins University, starting at 14:00 HKT on April 16
Other countries have reduced their share of the last million deaths, with India, Iran and Argentina being the lowest. Developed countries from Italy and the US to France and Belgium also had a lower share of the new death toll compared to the previous million.
The findings underscore the need for immunizations around the world, public health officials said. About 40 percent of Covid-19 vaccines were given to people in 27 rich nations, representing only 11 percent of the world’s population, according to Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
Read more: The vaccine rate is faster than 2,400% in the richest countries in the world
“There are many countries where people have not received a single immunization,” said Bali Pulendran, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University in California. “It is not enough to vaccinate everyone in one country. If you do not vaccinate the entire population, you will not control the pandemic. ”
A health worker administers a dose of Bharat Biotech Ltd. Covaxin vaccine to a government employee in New Delhi on April 12.
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
Disparities in immunization pose a threat to the world. The more the coronavirus spreads, the more opportunities it has to develop dangerous mutations. Some existing vaccines have already been shown to be less effective against new variants such as the one in South Africa. The chance of a mutation entering a highly vaccinated country and igniting another wave of Covid cannot be reduced.
Wrong direction
Covid infections and deaths have picked up worldwide
Source: Johns Hopkins University, based on weekly data
“Vaccines give us light at the end of the tunnel, but we are not there yet,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing earlier this month. “We must continue to protect ourselves and those around us by making the right choices.