According to official data compiled by AFP, at least 1,994,833 people have died from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide as of 11:00 a.m. SST on the 15th, with at least 93,064,400 confirmed cases, but this is feared to be only a fraction of the actual total number of infections, as many countries are only detecting cases with symptoms or the most severe symptoms. The United States remains the country with the most severe outbreak, and other countries with severe outbreaks include Brazil, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Europe became the first region in the world to exceed 500,000 people sickened by the disease on December 17 last year. The current epidemic in European countries is also quite urgent, with the number of cases in 52 European countries (including Russia) being the highest in the world, with the total number of cases exceeding 30 million. This is followed by the United States and Canada with 23,994,507 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean with 16,989,628 cases, and Asia with 14,480,588 cases.
Since the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, many variant strains have been identified, including a more infectious variant that has caused a spike in cases in the United Kingdom in recent months. Another mutation, called E484K, was initially detected in South Africa and then in Brazil and Japan, and researchers have become more cautious about the possible effects of this mutation on the immune system.
The British government has banned the entry of passengers from South America, Panama, Portugal and the Republic of Cape Verde in Africa from 4:00 a.m. on the 15th due to concerns about the entry of a new variant of coronavirus that has emerged in Brazil. Cargo and non-passenger flights are not included. The Secretary of State for Transport added: British and Irish citizens, as well as citizens of third countries with the right of abode, are required to return to the UK from the above-mentioned areas for 10 days of self-isolation at home with their families. The border policy adopted by the British government during this public health crisis has been subject to criticism. The UK initially allowed international travelers to enter and exit when cases spiked last year.
France’s prime minister announced Thursday (Jan. 14) that a curfew will be imposed across the country from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day for at least 15 days, starting Saturday. Unless for professional or emergency reasons, French residents will only be allowed to stay at home after 6 p.m., and will have to provide a reason for leaving the house. Although the second wave of the French epidemic has passed its peak and is in decline, the public health situation in France is still “fragile” due to the risk of mutation of the virus.
The French Prime Minister believes that curfew measures have proven effective, as recent holiday celebrations have not led to an “epidemic outbreak”. Since Dec. 15, France has imposed a curfew after 8 p.m. and moved it up to 6 p.m. in some of the worst areas of the epidemic. To stop the spread of the epidemic, the French government has now decided to extend the curfew to “avoid more drastic measures”. France will also immediately decide to impose a new round of blockades if health conditions deteriorate significantly in the coming days.
Germany’s epidemic control was once the best in Europe, but since last fall, the epidemic in Germany has climbed more than, cumulatively more than 2 million confirmed cases, in one of the most serious epidemic areas in the east of the state (Saxony) Meissen (Meissen) crematorium, reporters saw: coffins stacked to three high, and even stacked in the corridor waiting for cremation. Chancellor Angela Merkel 14 advocated a significant strengthening of control measures to reduce the infection rate. She called on the public must reduce social contact, in order to be able to stop the epidemic.
The mutated virus has emerged in dozens of countries, and a World Health Organization emergency committee is meeting two weeks ahead of schedule to issue recommendations to stop the spread of a new, more infectious strain of the virus.
Meanwhile, a WHO expert mission to investigate the source of the outbreak has arrived in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak originated, to begin a long-delayed investigation.
The United States only learned of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 30, 2019, “but not through the country’s official channels, as required by international health regulations,” U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said in remarks at an online seminar with the Heritage Foundation on Thursday. Rather, it was through the media surveillance that we did and the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in the United States.” “The SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence in China was not shared until Jan. 9, 10 days after the virus was reported in the media, likely a month or two after the virus actually appeared.” China’s repeated refusal of U.S. help has influenced the U.S. government to learn more about the virus and act accordingly.
Azar added that his suggestion that Trump ban the Chinese from entering the country ultimately proved to be the right approach, while some at the time accused the U.S. government of xenophobia. Azar noted, “Unfortunately, while China has been on lockdown internally, they have done nothing to stop their citizens from doing international travel, providing an opportunity for outbreaks around the world.”
Azar explained that the Trump administration praised China in the early stages of the outbreak in part because “with China, if you want access and cooperation, sometimes it’s more effective to give them a little public praise than to hit them over the head publicly.” “We were firm with them privately and put tremendous pressure on them, and in public we were quietly increasing the pressure, at least while we still thought we could hope to ensure their full cooperation and compliance with international health regulations.” “Unfortunately, WHO has never made the shift we did, and continues to heap praise on China even today.” “Our concerns were confirmed when the WHO international team returned. We learned that the scope of their work was limited to observing the response to the outbreak in China, not the origin of the virus itself.”
WHO was not able to deploy a team to China until Feb. 16, 2020.
The outbreak is still not over on the first anniversary of the new crown outbreak, but the vaccine, which is already in the injection phase, certainly offers hope to the world.
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