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 While the number of new cases and deaths have abated in countries
like the United States and Britain, several nations have vaccine
shortages as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain around
the world.
It took over a year for the COVID-19 death toll to hit 2 million,
while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days, according
to a Reuters analysis.
The top five countries by total number of deaths – the United
States, Brazil, India, Russia and Mexico – represent about 50% of
all deaths in the world, while Peru, Hungary, Bosnia, the Czech
Republic and Gibraltar have the highest death rates when adjusted
for population. (Graphic on global cases and deaths)
https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi
Countries in Latin America are facing their worst outbreak since
March, with 43 of every 100 infections in the world being reported
in the region, according to a Reuters analysis. The top nine
countries reporting the most deaths per capita over the last week
were all in Latin America.
(GRAPHIC-Top 10 countries reporting the most COVID-19 deaths:
https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/DEATHS-PERCAPITA/yxmvjadaepr/chart.png)
Hospitals in Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay are largely seeing COVID-19
patients between the ages of 25 and 40 as the trend toward younger
patients continued. In Brazil's Sao Paulo, 80% of intensive care
units (ICU) occupants are COVID-19 patients.
Soaring deaths are straining the operating capacity of crematoriums
in developing nations and gravediggers in several countries have
been forced to expand cemeteries with row after row of new tombs.
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India and Brazil are the countries reporting the most deaths each
day on a seven-day average and are still troubled with cremation
woes and lack of burial space. India accounts for one in every three
deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters analysis.
Many health experts believe that official death toll to be
undercounted globally, with the World Health Organization (WHO) last
month estimating fatalities to be much higher.
Last week, the Indian state of Bihar raised its COVID-19 death toll
sharply higher after the discovery of thousands of unreported cases,
lending weight to concerns that India's overall death tally is
significantly more than the official figure.
As poorer nations struggle to inoculate their populations due to
vaccine shortages, wealthier countries have been urged to donate
more to control the pandemic.
"The primary issue in the Americas is vaccine access, not vaccine
acceptance," Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa
Etienne said Wednesday, urging donor countries to send shots as soon
as possible.
The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations had pledged to provide 1
billion COVID-19 vaccinations to help poorer countries vaccinate
their populations.
(Reporting by Roshan Abraham and Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru;
Additional reporting by Lasya Priya M; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and
Karishma Singh)
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