Statistics on the outbreak released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States on Saturday (April 17) show that the number of people who have died from the new coronavirus worldwide has exceeded 3 million, with a total of 3000225.
This number is equivalent to the population of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and exceeds the combined population of the major U.S. city of Chicago (2.7 million) and the cities of Philadelphia and Dallas.
It is generally believed that the true death toll could be much larger. Wuhan, China, was the first to have a new coronavirus outbreak in late 2019, and there are many indications that the Chinese Communist authorities concealed both the number of people infected with the virus and the number of deaths in the early stages of the outbreak. The actual numbers are likely to be at least 10 times higher than the official Chinese figures released.
According to the latest figures released by China’s National Health Commission, there were 90,483 cumulative confirmed cases and 4,636 cumulative deaths.
The United States had the highest number of deaths at 566,224, Brazil ranked second at 368,749, Mexico ranked third at 211,693 and India fourth at 175,649. Other countries with more than 100,000 deaths include the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and France.
The total number of cases of the virus worldwide has exceeded 140 million. The United States, India and Brazil are the top three countries, with 31.57 million, 14.52 million and 13.83 million cases in that order.
Since January of this year, vaccination efforts in countries such as the U.S. and Europe are advancing rapidly, and as a result, the epidemic has shown remarkable improvement, and hope for a return to normal life has come.
However, in many parts of the world, the epidemic has rebounded and the death toll has again increased dramatically. Statistics show that the global average of deaths is around 12,000 per day, with up to 700,000 new cases per day. The death toll in Brazil remains as high as about 3,000 per day. The epidemic in India has worsened due to the mutation of the virus, with an average of 180,000 new cases per day in the past week.
Maria Van Kerkhove, a World Health Organization expert, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “To have a situation like this today, 16 months into the pandemic, when we have the means to control the epidemic, is not something we want to see.”
Of the 700 million doses of vaccine that have been distributed out worldwide so far, 87 percent have gone to wealthy countries. About a quarter of the population that has been vaccinated is in wealthy countries, according to the WHO.
Udaya Regmi, director of regional affairs for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), was quoted in the British Guardian as saying, “This is a warning to the world. Vaccines must be available to anyone anywhere to beat this terrible plague, whether rich or poor.”
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