In the United States, the number of coronavirus case counts and deaths continues to fall, but they keep rising in other countries, particularly in India.
The number of new cases has fallen this week by 15.8% and deaths by 3.6%, compared to the previous week, according to The Washington Post.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said, “We’ve made stunning progress,” addressing the CDC’s relaxed guidance on wearing face coverings outdoors.
The numbers have gone down due to the US vaccination program, as more than half of the adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.
More than 42% of the US population and over 54% of those who are above 18 years of age have received at least one dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, according to the CDC.
The agency also said that more than 29 % of the total population and over 37% of those over 18 have been fully vaccinated.
Furthermore, nearly 82% of older people, who are at an increased risk of developing severe COVID illness, have received at least one dose, while over 67% have been fully vaccinated.
The United States has reported the most number of cases and deaths in the world, affecting 32 million and killing more than 543,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Public health officials have warned about the new coronavirus strain and said lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to another surge in cases.
Meanwhile, the number of cases and deaths is increasing in other parts of the world, especially India.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said as of April 19, cases had gone up 8.54% over the week before and deaths had gone up 5.37%, according to Medscape Medical News.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that global cases increased for the ninth straight week and deaths have increased for the sixth straight week.
He said, “To put it in perspective, there were almost as many cases globally last week as in the first 5 months of the pandemic. It’s pleasing to see small declines in cases and deaths in several regions, but many countries are still experiencing intense transmission, and the situation in India is beyond heartbreaking.”
Since the pandemic began last year, globally, there have been nearly 150 million cases and over 3 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The majority of the deaths occurred in the United States, followed by Brazil, Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom.
Worldwide, more than 960 billion vaccine doses have been administered, but poor nations lag far behind developed nations, according to the WHO. The article was published Wednesday on Medscape.
