COVID-19 Deaths Could Possibly Reach 2 Million Even With Vaccine Says WHO
It is very possible for the COVID-19 deaths to reach two million worldwide even when there would already be an approved and effective vaccine.
World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies head Dr. Mike Ryan does acknowledged that the rate of COVID-19 deaths have gone down due to effective management of the disease.
However, better treatments and effective vaccines, will not be enough to prevent the COVID-19 deaths from reaching two million worldwide.
Dr. Ryan even said that two million COVID-19 deaths worldwide will be even more possible before an effective vaccine will be available worldwide.
There has already been close to one million COVID-19 deaths worldwide since it first started in China last year.
Not only has the confirmed cases continue to rise with 32 million positive cases worldwide, the start of a second surge is being seen in many countries located in the northern hemisphere especially that the winter is approaching.
Dr. Ryan is calling on the governments to do everything they can to control the pandemic.
He added that COVID-19 deaths could even be higher if there is no concerted international action.
Dr. Ryan said that unless everyone globally does it all, two million COVID-19 deaths is not only imaginable but it will be very likely.
While the top 3 countries-U.S., India and Brazil continue to have rising numbers, recording 15 million COVID-19 positive cases between them, a resurgence of infection has been seen across Europe in recent days, which Dr. Ryan said is very worrying.
There have even been reports of the U.K. leader planning to implement another national lockdown, the same as the one imposed when the pandemic first spiked.
And, while the cases continue to rise in the U.S., with fall and winter setting in, an explosion of COVID-19 cases is expected.
Based on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the U.S. experiences 765 COVID-19 deaths daily and that number could go up to 3,000 per day by late December.
University of Washington's IHME director Dr. Chris Murray is pointing at two things that could bring about the winter surge. One, people have become complacent as some states have reported cases going down. Second, the seasonality of the virus.
Dr. Murray said that with people going indoors, transmissions would happen more.
The U.S. has already recorded more than seven million infections and more than 204,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
The data also show that some states, mostly across the U.S. heartland and Midwest, have reported a rise in new cases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert, had also urged American cities and counties last week to prepare for the challenge of fall and winter.
With a daily average of more than 40,000 cases nationwide, COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. is sure to also see a spike.
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