As a grim and sad milestone was reached on Friday when statistics from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center showed 2 million people have died during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, a Chinese expert called for the enhanced international cooperation, among other measures, to slow down the rise of the death toll and to contain the virus.
Maintaining high awareness of basic anti-epidemic measures, mass vaccinations, as well as accelerating research and development of medicines are also needed, according to Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University.
“Insisting on wearing facial masks, washing hands frequently and maintaining safe social distance are regarded as the most important ways for the public to resist the virus. A high anti-epidemic awareness is necessary to curb the rise of COVID-19 infections and deaths,” Yang told the Global Times on Saturday.
As most deaths have been reported in Europe and the Americas, Yang said that viruses circulating in those continents are more pathogenic and may be related to different gene characteristics. However, relative novel coronavirus study hasn’t been achieved and confirmed yet.
The US reported the world’s highest death toll, with more than 391,000 fatalities, accounting for one in every four deaths reported worldwide each day.
Brazil is the second worst-affected country, with 208,246 deaths, followed by India with 151,918, Mexico with 139,022 and the UK with 87,448.
Those five countries account for almost half of worldwide COVID-19 deaths but account for only 27 percent of the global population, according to media reports.
Europe, the worst-affected continent in the world, has reported more than 615,000 deaths, accounting for nearly 31 percent of the global COVID-19 deaths.
In comparison, the death toll in China remains significantly lower at around 4,800 as of Saturday, according to official data.
It took the world around eight months to record 1 million Covid-19 deaths, and only four months for the second million deaths to occur.
“Our world has reached a heart-wrenching milestone. Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said of passing the 2-million death mark.
He called for greater global solidarity to fund vaccination efforts and urged citizens to stick to containment measures such as physical distancing and masks, the Guardian reported.
Yang believes that the rise in death toll could slow down because most countries have tried hard to take a series of anti-epidemic measures, and vaccinations are being promoted globally. International cooperation on sharing treatment experiences, virus information, and development of medicines will also help reduce the deaths, he said.
Improving healthcare is also key to curbing the rising number of deaths. Even developed countries in Europe as well as the US have become lacking in medical equipment. Shortages of medical resources occurred during the epidemic, resulting in the death of many critically ill patients who were not adequately treated, Yang said.
Finding a “magic bullet” would be the most effective treatment to reduce deaths among the infected. “However, development of a specific drug for a new infectious disease typically takes at least five to 10 years, much longer than [developing] a vaccine,” Yang said.
Many countries have rolled out massive vaccination programs, with some countries are pursuing global cooperation.
According to the People’s Daily, flagship newspaper in China, more than 10 countries around the world have signed orders for China’s COVID-19 vaccines since December 2020, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, where a high number of deaths have been reported.
Vaccination to create immunity is the most anticipated approach to control the COVID-19, and to reduce the number of infections and deaths, Yang said.
Photo: AFP
