Hitting the million mark
As many sources have confirmed, the global death toll as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has now crossed one million. Coming just three months after the toll hit half a million, this grim milestone is an undeniable indicator that despite the show of confidence and normality that is being attempted by some administrations, the pandemic is not over yet. Reuters reduced the death count to dismally bleak arithmetic that brings home the weight of a death toll that we are all too numb to fully register. According to Reuters calculations based on September averages, more than 5,400 people are dying every day. This equates to around 226 per hour.
A majority of these deaths, nearly 45 per cent, come from just three nations — the US, India and Brazil. As all three of these nations have now relaxed many of the strict lockdown measures they initially took, the toll can only climb higher. While the US leads in both case count and number of deaths, the situation in India is looking to surpass that of the United States. In September, India recorded the highest daily case growth averages that have yet been witnessed with more than 87,000 cases on average per day. The rest of the world faces a daunting scenario as well. While the pandemic is in a state of relative control in the rest of Asia, there is anticipation that the high strung game of vigilance may falter at any moment as the virus hits a phase of resurgence. As was witnessed, even countries like South Korea that had managed to control the contagion's spread through an aggressive contact tracing operation could not keep their case count from spiking once more. Similar is the case with many parts of Europe where leaders are attempting to balance an economic resuscitation with the risk of a new wave. Nowhere in Europe is this confusion more clear than the UK where the Government has made confusingly fast shifts from normalisation through various schemes to yet another clampdown on account of rising infection numbers. All the while being supported with new taglines. Moving on to Latin America, the region is now the most affected in the world with nearly 30 per cent of all cases a third of all deaths being recorded in the region. With rush hours and a busy nightlife scene returning to many of these countries, the authorities there appear to have largely given up on active control of the situation with some politicians recklessly speaking of achieving the elusive herd immunity in due time. Add to all this, an approaching flu season with its related complications and a global pushback by the citizenry that is tired of lockdowns and the situation appears far from being in control.
But amidst this continuous doom and gloom, there is hope to be had. Ten months in, humanity has a few things to show for all the regrettable losses it has suffered in this fight. Testing numbers and methods have gone up significantly. Now, tests that can provide results within five minutes are being rolled out worldwide. They do not have complete reliability as yet but offer a way forward as an important screening tool that can be followed up by more reliable and slower tests. Any talk of the scientific advancements in the understanding of the contagion must unavoidably speak of the vaccine development as well. Within these ten months, hundreds of vaccines have been put into development with only a few significantly reaching stage three of human testing. The astounding progress on the vaccine has no comparison in human history and is based on a rapidly evolving understanding of a virus we found mysterious only a few months ago. Now, the front runners are optimistically expecting a rollout to the general population within the next two years if all goes well. Of course, vaccines have their own issues which must be dealt with as well with political games over vaccine possession and/or deadlines adding an unneeded layer of complexity to the whole process that is already being pushed to the bounds of efficiency.
Reaching a one million mark is grim news without question. But while it is important to be cognizant of tragedies such as the growing difficulties of even finding burial spots for the COVID dead, it is equally important to remember that humanity has not been entirely helpless in its struggle. Mistakes, even costly mistakes have been made but the world has continued to persevere even in such times. As the world unites under schemes like COVAX, the way forward remains the same as always — together.
