London- The global tally for positive COVID-19 cases will soon cross 30 million, a Reuters report reads. The pandemic shows no signs of slowing down and India is emerging as its epicentre. Of the 30 million cases, 6.65 million are from the US, 4.42 million cases from Brazil, while more than 5.12 million cases are from India.
As per data, the global death toll will soon cross 1 million. According to the World Health Organisation, the coronavirus cases is more than five times the number of severe influenza cases recorded annually. COVID-19 death toll in the US is nearing 200,000. These numbers come 18 days after global COVID-19 infections surpassed 25 million globally.
In a report, Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), an independent body created by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, reveals how little the world had focused on preparing for a disaster of such a scale, despite several warnings that large disease outbreaks were inevitable. “The COVID-19 pandemic is providing a harsh test of the world’s preparedness,” the report read. It added that the impact of the pandemic is worse than anticipated.
Though the US has 4 per cent of the world’s population, it has about 20 per cent of global cases and Brazil has 15 per cent of global cases.
Health experts have said that actually positive cases and deaths might be higher than official data, as some countries have limited testing capacity. Even as the race to develop and roll out a vaccine for the coronavirus grows increasingly frantic, US President Donald Trump said his country could have a vaccine ready for distribution before the US election on November 3. A Chinese official in the meantime has also said that China could have a vaccine ready by November.
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board has urged the UN, the WHO and international financial institutions like the World Bank to meet and discuss an international framework for emergency preparedness and response.
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