UNB :
Covid-19 continues its onslaught across the world, particularly on the back of the more infectious Delta variant that was first identified in India. Mass inoculation drives are underway in many countries, but even some countries that managed to get ahead in the vaccination race are now starting to witness spikes.
Meanwhile the global caseload is fast approaching the 184-million mark.
The total caseload and fatalities now stand at 183,742,035 and 3,976,335 respectively as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
As of now, 3,192,397,854 (almost 3.2 billion) vaccine doses have been administered across the world. Countries are using incentives for people to get shots including free groceries, travel and entertainment vouchers, and prize drawings. One US state has even offered free cannabis joints.
The US, which is the world’s worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,717,567 cases, according to JHU, while 605,526 people have lost their lives to the virus.
Yet although the country missed a July 4 (their Independence Day) target to vaccinate 70 percent of the population with at least one shot of a two-dose vaccine, generally both cases and deaths have been trending down for quite a while now.
Since June 30, the country has been averaging fewer than 300 coronavirus deaths each day, for the first time since March 2020 – pretty much the start of the pandemic. On July 4, it reported 214 deaths.
The New York Times however reports that the highly infectious Delta variant continues to spread in the country, driving up case totals in parts of Missouri and raising concerns about vulnerability in other areas with low vaccination rates.
The risk of infection from the delta variant is “high to very high” for partially or unvaccinated communities, according to the European Centre for Disease Control, which monitors 30 countries on the continent. It estimates that by the end of August, the variant will account for 90% of cases in the European Union’s 27 nations.
The Dutch government is extending its vaccination program to those aged 12-17 to help head off a feared new surge. Greece is offering young adults 150 euros ($177) in credit after their first jab. Rome authorities are mulling the use of vans to vaccinate people at the beach. And Poland last week launched a lottery open only to adults who are fully vaccinated, with new cars among the prizes, according to AP.
Brazil, where the catastrophe has been driven not by Delta but rather its own more infectious variant, is fast catching up with the United States when it comes to the death toll, and the South American behemoth has the third largest caseload in the world, following the US and India.
It has recorded 524,475 deaths so far, while the total caseload stood at 18,769,808 as of Monday morning. On current trends, it may yet overtake the US by the time it’s all over. It’s 7-day moving average of deaths stood at 1563 yesterday, while cases were close to 50,000.
The case of Israel is interesting to demonstrate the ability of Delta to penetrate even highly vaccinated populations. The country has been one of the world leaders, if not the leader, in inoculation against the coronavirus, with 60 percent of the population fully vaccinated. It had even managed to do away with a mask-wearing mandate by mid-June. But on June 25, days after the Delta variant was first identified in the country, it reimposed the mandate for indoor spaces. Daily cases, which were down below twenty in mid-June, have been back up between 300-500 since June 25.
