Mortality rate was in double-digit in some nations when Covid-19 hit world 2 yrs ago first time
The fatality rate of Omicron-driven Covid-19 has stabilised around 0.25 per cent across the world. This is far below the double-digit mortality rate some countries saw when the first wave of Covid-19 hit the world two years ago.
On Wednesday, the world recorded 3,238,025 new cases and 8,425 deaths. The USA reported 8,29, 2928 cases and 2,283 deaths which translates to nearly 0.25 per cent both in global terms and for the USA.
Among the European nations, France has been the worst hit by Omicron. The country reported. 3.61 lakh cases on Wednesday but only 246 deaths. In fact, France is managing coronavirus in better ways than most other countries, including India. On Wednesday, India clocked 2.47 cases and 30 deaths.
The number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October 2021, at an average of 48,000.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said the highly transmissible Omcircon variant of Covid is driving a huge spike in Covid infections across countries but the death rate is stable.
He also noted that though vaccines do not fully protect from infections, the overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals around the world are unvaccinated.
The sheer number of cases also means more pressure on already overburdened and exhausted health workers.
Last week, more than 15 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported to WHO from around the world, by far the most cases reported in a single week. While these are official estimates, the actual numbers could be really high.
“This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries,” said Ghebreyesus at his Press address on Wednesday.
“However, the number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October last year, at an average of 48 thousand deaths a week,” he added.
This could be due to the reduced severity of Omicron, and widespread immunity from vaccination or previous infection, he noted.
But for those who are unvaccinated “Omicron remains a dangerous virus”, the WHO chief said even as he added that “at the same time, while the immunisations remain very effective at preventing severe disease and death, they do not fully prevent transmission.”
“Almost 50 thousand deaths a week is 50 thousand deaths too many,” Ghebreyesus said. “Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths.”
He stated that the world cannot “allow this virus a free ride” when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated. In Africa, for example, more than 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine.
