Covid-19 deaths worldwide near 4.5mn mark
PARIS/SYDNEY: The coronavirus disease has killed at least 4,461,431 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Thursday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the Covid-19 pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19.
On Wednesday, 11,899 new deaths and 767,147 new cases were recorded worldwide.
Meanwhile, Australia’s new daily cases of Covid-19 topped 1,000 on Thursday for the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.
New South Wales state, where Sydney is the capital, reported 1,029 new cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, up from 838. The rapid rise in Covid-19 patients has forced Sydney’s Westmead and Blacktown hospitals, which service the city’s sprawling western suburbs, to erect tents to screen and swab patients to help manage capacity.
Also, Japan suspended the use of 1.63mn doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday, more than a week after the domestic distributor received reports of contaminants in some vials.
Both Japan and Moderna said that no safety or efficacy issues had been identified and that the suspension was just a precaution. “Moderna confirms having been notified of cases of particulate matter being seen in drug product vials of its Covid-19 vaccine,” Moderna said.
The US is projected to see nearly 100,000 more deaths between now and December 1, according to the nation’s most closely watched forecasting model. “Behaviour is really going to determine if, when and how sustainably the current wave subsides,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the University of Texas Covid-19 Modelling Consortium. “We cannot stop Delta in its tracks, but we can change our behaviour overnight.”
Vaccinations in Africa tripled over the past week, though protecting even 10% of the continent by the end of September remains “a very daunting task”, the Africa director of WHO said.