COVID-19: UpdateGlobal COVID-19 Cases Pass 10 Million, Deaths Top Half Million

Global COVID-19 numbers crossed two grim thresholds Sunday, with cases passing 10 million and deaths topping 500,000, with cases still rising in a number of hot spots and countries that have controlled their outbreaks battling pockets of resurgence.

The world has been adding about 1 million COVID-19 cases a week, and yesterday the total reached 10,199,798 cases, and 502,947 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.

Outbreak Approaches 6-Month Mark
At a World Health Organization (WHO) media briefing yesterday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said reaching the 6-month mark and the staggering numbers is a moment for the world to reflect on the progress made and the lessons learned. He said the pandemic has brought out the best and worst in humanity.

“All over the world, we have seen heartwarming acts of resilience, inventiveness, solidarity, and kindness,” he said. “But we have also seen concerning signs of stigma, misinformation, and the politicization of the pandemic.”

Over the weekend, a pledging event hosted by the European Commission and Global Citizen raised money for the COVID-19 battle, including for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, designed to speed the equitable distribution of vaccine, drugs, and diagnostics. Tedros said though a vaccine is an important long-term goal, countries need to take five steps now to save lives, the first of which is empowering communities to slow the spread by, for example, observing physical distancing, practicing hand hygiene, and wearing masks when appropriate.

“You may be in a low-risk category, but the choices you make could be the difference between life and death for someone else,” Tedros said. The other steps include suppressing transmission by improving surveillance, saving lives through early identification and clinical care, accelerating research, and strong political leadership.

Tedros said the measures have been shown to slow, but not stop, the virus, and he warned that some countries are experiencing resurgences as they reopen their economies, given that many people are still susceptible to the virus.

The hard reality is that the pandemic is not close to being over, and the world is in the situation together for the long haul, Tedros said. “We have already lost so much – but we cannot lose hope,” he said.