With some time passing since my last update, and the rates of vaccinations ramping up globally, it is easy to forget the simple, but devastating fact: we are still in a global pandemic. Here are the latest weekly totals for new cases and new deaths, worldwide:
Just as the charts show,
- New cases have fallen significantly from the pandemic peak (Wave 4), but remain above the prior trough between Waves 3 and 4.
- New deaths recorded are still at extremely high levels, and showing an uptick week-on-week in the latest data.
Meanwhile, mortality of new Covid19 cases is stubbornly at the levels observed over the last two waves of the pandemic:
Put differently, the ‘rich’ world is getting vaccinated (albeit with some variation in the rates), while the emerging markets and middle-income economies remain well behind on vaccinations curve. Which means there is continued threat of a global pandemic re-igniting and the looming uncertainty over the new variants emerging.
So much for the ‘reopening’ future…
