More than five million people are known to have died of Covid-19 worldwide, 19 months since the pandemic began, according to figures released by Johns Hopkins University. Some experts, including the World Health Organization (WHO), believe the number of deaths is actually two to three times higher.
According to the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, the death toll rivals the number of people killed in battles among nations since 1950, and globally, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.
The deaths from the coronavirus far outstrip that of other viral epidemics in the 21st century and most from the 20th century, with the notable exception of the Spanish flu. The US, Brazil, India, Mexico, and the UK together account for more than half of all deaths worldwide.
In the U.S., more than 745,800 people have died, making it the country with the highest number of recorded deaths. Brazil follows with 607,824 recorded deaths, and India, with 458,437.
While vaccines have slowed the death rate and the number of hospitalizations, this unwanted milestone also comes with a warning from health officials that cases and deaths in some places are rising for the first time in months, reports The BBC.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to a rise in cases in Europe, where countries with low vaccination rates are seeing soaring infections and deaths. According to the Associated Press, the virus is now pummeling Russia, Ukraine, and other parts of Eastern Europe, especially where rumors, misinformation, and distrust in government have hobbled vaccination efforts.
“What’s uniquely different about this pandemic is it hit hardest the high-resource countries,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, a global health center at Columbia University. “That’s the irony of COVID-19.”
El-Sadr explained – “Wealthier nations with longer life expectancies have larger proportions of older people, cancer survivors, and nursing home residents, all of whom are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.”
El-Sadr went on to say that in poorer countries, there are larger shares of children, teens, and young adults, who are less likely to fall seriously ill from the coronavirus. However, there is a paradox in comparing nations with wealth and health.
Within each wealthy country, when deaths and infections are mapped, poorer neighborhoods are hit hardest. And it is the same with all countries if we look close enough.
