Almost two years since the first case of the ‘novel’ coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China and over a year since major pharmaceutical companies announced they have developed effective vaccines against the disease that we now call Covid-19, the world is still not rid of this pandemic.
Globally, there have been 243.4 million cases of Covid-19 over the past year and nine months, with nearly 5 million lethalities. Three countries have extremely high Covid-19 tallies: the United States (46.1 million cases), India (34.1 million), and Brazil (21.6 million). At least 36 countries have had more than one million Covid-19 infections.
These are just the official numbers. It is widely assumed that the number of people who got infected but never sought medical help or testing for Covid-19 are about one third on top of the official statistics. There is also speculation that countries like China, where the government has very strict control over the media and the flow of information, are underreporting their Covid-19 data.
In terms of daily infection rates, as of yesterday the highest increases were in the US (80K), the United Kingdom (52K), Russia (36K), Turkey (28K), and Ukraine (22K). These countries have 57%, 66%, 32%, 56%, and 19% of their population fully vaccinated, respectively. The global vaccination rate sits at around 49% at the moment, still very far from the 70% minimum required for herd immunity.
Many countries continue to struggle with reaching the desired higher vaccination rate due to increasing vaccine hesitancy. Due to a mixture of fake news and insufficient awareness campaigns about the safety of the vaccines, millions of people still remain reluctant to get the jab, which is why the coronavirus pandemic has continued for so long, even after about ten months of vaccination campaigns around the world.
The arrival of the colder months in the northern hemisphere, where most developed and developing economies are located, usually means a spike in seasonal flu infections, colds, and even Covid-19 infections. Thus, with still millions of unvaccinated people and no herd immunity anywhere, experts fear that we might see yet another massive wave of infections soon.
Russia, which is currently wrestling with a very serious outbreak of the coronavirus, officially became the first country to announce a new round of lockdowns to keep the virus at bay, just as countries like Australia, which had very long lockdowns, are reopening for the first time in months.
The United Kingdom, which is the most heavily affected country in Europe (though not part of the EU), might also see a lockdown soon if public discontent grows. The UK ended its restrictions in July and almost instantly saw a spike in cases, though lethalities remain low, thanks to the vaccines. But with 50,000 infections per day consistently, week after week, Brits are beginning to demand more measures out of their government. PM Boris Johnson has refused to oblige them so far.
