Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a dismal 4 million milestone on Thursday, as many countries struggle to get enough vaccines to keep their populations inoculated, according to a Reuters tally.
While the number of new cases and deaths has declined in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, several countries are experiencing a vaccine shortage as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain worldwide.
According to a Reuters analysis, it took over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2 million, while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days.
The five largest countries by total deaths, the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, and Mexico, account for about 50% of all deaths worldwide, while Peru, Hungary, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, and Gibraltar have the highest adjusted death rates for the population .
Countries in Latin America are facing the worst outbreak since March, with 43 out of 100 infections reported in the region worldwide, according to a Reuters analysis. The nine countries that reported the most deaths per capita in the past week were all in Latin America.
Hospitals in Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay are primarily seeing COVID-19 patients between the ages of 25 and 40 as the trend towards younger patients continues. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, 80% of intensive care unit (ICU) inmates are COVID-19 patients.
Rising deaths are straining the operating capacity of crematoriums in developing countries, and gravediggers in several countries have been forced to add a number of new graves to cemeteries.
India and Brazil are the countries with the highest number of reported deaths on a seven-day average each day and are still facing cremation issues and shortage of burial sites. According to a Reuters analysis, India is responsible for every third death reported worldwide on a daily basis.
Many health experts believe the official death toll is underestimated worldwide, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating the death toll much higher last month.
Last week, the Indian state of Bihar significantly increased its COVID-19 death toll after discovering thousands of unreported cases, reinforcing concerns that India’s total death toll is well above the official figure.
As poorer countries struggle to vaccinate their populations due to vaccine shortages, wealthier countries have been urged to donate more to help contain the pandemic.
“The main problem in America is access to vaccines, not vaccine acceptance,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, on Wednesday, urging donor countries to send vaccinations as soon as possible.
The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations had pledged to provide 1 billion COVID-19 vaccinations to help poorer countries vaccinate their populations.
एक टिप्पणी भेजें