A year of coronavirus: the world says goodbye to 2020 with more than 82 million infections and 1.8 million deaths

12/31/2020 10:34 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 12/31/2020 10:34 AM

On the last day of 2020, those infected with coronavirus already exceed 82.8 million worldwide, exactly one year after the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the appearance in the Wuhan city of a significant number of cases of a rare then unknown pneumonia.

According to data from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which keeps the world count, those infected by covid-19 were 82,835,563 until this Thursday and the dead, 1,807,638 people from the disease on the planet.

According to the figures published this Thursday on the university's website, the United States continues to register the highest number of infections with 19,745,136 and 342,414 deaths.

India is the second in infections, with 10,266,674 and Brazil third with 7,619,200.

But the South American giant is the second in deaths, with 193,875.

Among the European countries that register the most infections are Russia with 3,100,018, France with 2,657,624 and the United Kingdom with 2,440,202.

A year after the appearance of the first cases in China, when no one imagined that this rare pneumonia would turn into a lethal global pandemic, the world is already starting vaccination and preparing to start a 2021 focused on the "new normal". 

A graffiti on a New York street asks "do not be afraid of covid."

It is one of the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus in the United States.

Photo: AFP

China granted this Wednesday the first authorization for the commercialization of one of the covid-19 vaccines developed in the country, one of the two candidates of the state pharmaceutical Sinopharm, with a view to administering it free of charge to the citizens of the Asian giant.

Sinopharm applied to the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for approval after reporting that its efficacy was 79.34%, based on provisional data derived from phase 3 clinical trials.

New Years restrictions

Europe lives under a strong second wave of coronavirus that forced restrictive measures.

The festivities must be austere and without large gatherings, with curfews and confinements in some countries.

Germany, for example, registered 32,552 infections in the last 24 hours and 964 deaths related to the disease.

Thus, the record levels of more than 30,000 infections that were observed already in the week before Christmas are maintained.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 1,719,737 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany.

The vaccine, which is already beginning to be applied in several countries, is the hope to defeat the pandemic.

Photo: AFP

The Czech Republic registered a maximum of 16,939 positives in the last 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.

This data is 20% higher than a week ago and was accompanied by a percentage of positives by PCR tests carried out of 51.89%, the highest so far, and which means that out of every two tests carried out one showed a case of contagion.

The country's hospital capacity is reaching its limits,

In France, between December 21 and 27, 3,024,000 tests were carried out to diagnose the coronavirus, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.

The country registered 26,457 new cases of the coronavirus this Wednesday, compared to the 11,395 reported the previous day, and 304 deaths in one day, bringing the total number of deaths since March to 64,381.

Brazil registered 1,194 deaths this Wednesday, the highest number in four months.

The total number of victims in the country is close to 194,000, according to the data released this Wednesday by the Ministry of Health.

This is the third time this month that Brazil has registered more than a thousand daily deaths from coronavirus, after the 1,111 reported on Tuesday and the 1,092 recorded on December 17, which shows the resurgence of the disease in one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the world.

The United States, meanwhile, added 3,927 deaths from Covid-19 in a single day and reached 19,715,899 confirmed cases and 341,845 deaths from Covid-19.

New York State remains the worst hit in the country by the pandemic with 37,868 deaths, followed by Texas (27,895), California (25,357), Florida (21,550) and New Jersey (19,109). 

Source: EFE

CB

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