A Qantas Airbus A380 in London
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,063rd day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today, some Long Covid patients are finding their insurance claims are being denied, Governor Newsome of California tested positive for the virus, and Australia is ending coronavirus test requirements for travelers from China.
LONG COVID
In the United States, many patients with Long Covid are finding that their insurance claims are being denied as “medically unnecessary,” NBC News said in a special report. The exact number of people encountering insurance issues is unknown but a paper published last May in the JAMA Health Forum postulated that the medical costs of Long Covid for a single patient could be approximately $9,000 per annum.
UNITED STATES
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom reported that he had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, his second infection since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The governor has “mild symptoms” his spokesman said and plans to work remotely for at least five days.
Also in California, Natalie Le DeMola ran a massive scam that used stolen identities to secure emergency pandemic unemployment benefits. DeMola is also an inmate in a state prison and serving a life sentence for murder. One of 13 people charged last May in the scheme, she pleaded guilty this week to federal charges of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
GLOBAL
In Hong Kong, all students taking university entrance exams will be required to don face masks, authorities there said. The move comes despite the end to the city’s mask mandate. In addition, anyone who is positive with SARS-CoV-2 will go to designated centers to sit for their exams.
TRAVEL
Officials in Australia said Thursday that they plan to end the requirement for travelers from China to present a negative coronavirus test prior to departure for the country starting at midnight on Saturday.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Thursday, March 9.
As of Thursday morning, the world has recorded 681.1 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million cases, and 6.81 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 654.1 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.2 million.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Thursday at press time is 20,254,643, an increase of 34,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,214,173, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 40,470, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past three months.
The United States reported 63,372, new coronavirus infections on Thursday for the previous day, compared to 23,808 on Wednesday, 14,774 on Tuesday, 1,567 on Monday, 1,671 on Sunday, and 69,509 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 33,830. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 30,462, a figure down 10% over the past 14 days, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 324, a decrease of 5% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 25,274, a decrease of 11%. In addition, the number of patients in ICUs was 3,280, a decrease of 11% and the test positivity rate is now 8.1%, a figure that is down by 16% over the same period.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Thursday, recorded 105.5 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.15 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.7 million, and a reported death toll of 530,775.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat last reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July 2022, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 39.6 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.2 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 699,310, has recorded 37.1 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are Japan, with 33.3 million cases, South Korea, with 30.6 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 25.6 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.4 million, and Russia, with 22.4 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, 269.6 million people in the United States – or 81.2% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.3%, or 230.1 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 672.1 million. Breaking this down further, 92.1% of the population over the age of 18 – or 237.8 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 79% of the same group – or just under 204 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 19.6% of the same population, or 50.5 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine, while 22.7 million people over the age of 65, or 41.4% of that population have also received the bivalent booster.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 69.7% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Thursday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.32 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 766,439 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 28% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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