The Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,064th day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today, Congress moved to declassify information about the origins of the pandemic, 28% of people in low-income countries have now received at least one vaccine dose, and China spent $21.5 billion to inoculate its population against SARS-CoV-2.
LONG COVID
Cierre Chubb is one of hundreds of women in the United States who faced significant complications after contracting SARS-CoV-2 while pregnant. Chubb, who had not been vaccinated, spent 100 days in hospital, much of that in an ICU, on a ventilator or on an ECMO machine.
In an interview with ABC News, she said she has lingering and very painful nerve damage in her foot that makes it difficult for her to walk.
Meanwhile, her son Myles was born via caesarean delivery, two weeks early, but a healthy baby.
UNITED STATES
The House of Representatives voted unanimously to declassify intelligence on possible links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, the Senate voted to require the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, to declassify such information. The bill will be sent to President Joseph Biden for signature.
GLOBAL
China released figures showing that the country spent 150 billion yuan ($21.5 billion) to inoculate its population of 1.4 billion people. Health officials there said that they spent approximately $2 per dose for the primary coronavirus vaccines.
In addition, the National Healthcare Security Administration, which oversees the state health insurance fund, said the inactivated vaccines – the ones most widely used in the country – cost 16 yuan per dose on average.
In Hong Kong, school officials are ending the mandate for pupils to undergo daily rapid antigen coronavirus tests before attending their classes. The move was announced in a memorandum sent to school principals Friday morning.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, March 10.
As of Friday morning, the world has recorded 681.3 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, 654.2 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.1 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 Friday at press time is 20,298,796, an increase of 44,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,258,415, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 40,381, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past three months.
The number of new coronavirus infections for Friday was not available at press time. The United States reported 63,372, new coronavirus infections on Friday for the previous day, compared to 23,808 on Thursday, 14,774 on Wednesday, 1,567 on Tuesday, 1,671 on Monday, and 69,509 on Sunday, 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 Friday, recorded over 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 530,779.
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 just under 38.3 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 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 Friday, 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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