Around ten million SARS-CoV-2s have now been reported worldwide, as the US Johns Hopkins University reported on Sunday. Around 500,000 people have died from Covid-19. India, Brazil and the USA in particular continue to have high infection rates.
The number of ten million people infected worldwide is roughly twice the number of severe flu cases registered annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). The death rate in the approximately seven months of the corona pandemic roughly corresponds to the death rate from influenza in one year. Brazil recently reported almost 40,000 newly infected people and now has a total of over 1.3 million cases. The number of deaths there was given as 57,000. Russia speaks of around 635,000 infections and more than 9,000 victims. However, doubts are repeatedly raised about this comparatively low death rate.
Europe most affected
The continent most affected by the pandemic is still Europe, where more than 2.6 million infections and almost 196,000 deaths have now been registered. The statistics for the worst affected countries, on the other hand, are led by the United States, where over 2.5 million people tested positive for the virus and 125,539 died.
A million new infections have been reported worldwide in the past six days alone. Because the test strategies in the individual countries are so different and because in many countries around the world the capacities are not available, the real number of people affected by Covid 19 is likely to be significantly higher.
Waiting for the vaccine
At the international donation marathon, aid pledges totaling 6.15 billion euros were received at the weekend, as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Germany promised 383 million euros. A total of 40 governments participated in the virtual summit. The billions are intended to advance the development of a vaccine against the disease, among other things.
Chinese company CNBG reported encouraging human test results over the weekend with a coronavirus vaccine candidate. The results indicated that the vaccine could be safe and effective, China National Biotec Group (CNBG) said. The drug triggered high-level antibody production in all vaccinated test subjects in the clinical study, in which 1,120 healthy people participated.
Meat industry is becoming a problem
In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute reported a good 250 new infections on Sunday. The number of infectious or acutely ill people has been rising slightly in Germany for weeks. After it was temporarily below 5,000, it is now slightly below 7,000 again.
Especially the outbreaks in slaughterhouses had increased the numbers. EU Social Commissioner Nicolas Schmit argued for better working conditions across the EU. “Other EU member countries submitted complaints about the German meat industry because of unfair competition years ago. But there are socially poorly secured and discriminated seasonal workers not only in Germany, but also in other EU countries,” he told the newspapers of the German radio operator Media group. Schmit announced guidelines and, if necessary, an EU directive, should social standards be circumvented further.
US Vice President Mike Pence canceled campaign events in the US corona hotspots Arizona and Florida over the weekend. They dropped out of “excessive caution,” said campaign team officials. The two states had recently reported new records for new infections.
