The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic completed one year since its deadly attack on humans. As of now, the virus has taken more lives than any natural or health disasters in the last two decades.
The total number of deaths related to COVID-19 crossed the three-million mark on April 17, 2021. The death toll on April 20 stands at 30,45,849. It took just one year and four months to reach the number.
The virus has spread to all 219 countries globally and deaths from seven countries account for nearly half of the total toll. The United States faced the worst hit with 5,79,942 deaths followed by Brazil with 3,69,024. Mexico comes next with 2,11,693 death, then India with 1,75,673, and France reported 1,00,404.
In 2021, at first, the pandemic saw a spike in January, then slowed down a bit with the number of deaths falling down. However, later on, the death rates started to rise from March 10 onwards. The USA aggressively started to vaccinate its population which led to a reduction in cases.
Natural calamities
When COVID-19 deaths are compared with fatality figures from natural and health disasters that broke out in the country, the number is very less. At present, the growing cases of COVID in the country are touching new peaks which will lead to more fatalities in the coming months.
According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNODRR), 9,40,00 people lost their lives during the World’s deadliest disasters that happened between 2008 and 2019.
These disasters include three mega-disasters the country seen, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar during 2008, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. A total of 79,732 people lost their lives due to 321 incidences of natural disasters that took place in India.
Other diseases
The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS) claimed over 24,00,000 lakh deaths during 2017, 2018, and 2019. COVID-19 which took over 30 lakhs people’s lives thus poses a serious danger to society.
Officaly COVID is the third-leading cause of fatality on the planet after ischemic heart disease and stroke, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). With increasing COVID cases, the deaths increased by 60 percent in just a week.
After a decline in deaths from September 2020 to mid-February 2021, the growth of a new number of cases is more worrying for the country.