Just over two years since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 500 million cases of Covid-19 have already been recorded worldwide as of this Wednesday (13), while many countries relax restrictive measures and low testing worries experts. .
The mark of 501,462,441 infections, according to a survey by Johns Hopkins University (USA), occurs after an increase in the speed of registration of the disease this year. In early January, there were 300 million cases, and in early February, the 400 million mark was reached.
In recent weeks, however, the moving average has been falling. The index this Tuesday (12) was 1.03 million cases in the balance of the last seven days, a number 34% lower than that recorded two weeks ago, according to data from Our World in Data. The US leads the ranking in the absolute number of infections, with 80.5 million registered until this Tuesday, followed by India (43 million) and Brazil (30.2 million).
As well as cases, deaths have also been falling after passing 6 million in early March. As of Wednesday, there were 6.2 million, according to Johns Hopkins, and Tuesday’s moving average (3,300) was 34% lower than two weeks ago.
Among the continents, Europe leads in the accumulated with 186.5 million cases, and Africa is the one with the lowest number, at 11.6 million. This figure, however, may be far from reality due to low access to tests. An analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that by September 2021, 65% of Africans (790 million) would have been infected with the coronavirus, or 94 times more than had been recorded at that time (8.3 million).
Faced with this scenario, the WHO recently urged countries on the continent to intensify testing and monitoring of contact with infected people. The organization also called on the Americas to increase their vaccination and detection efforts.
Fewer exams can further camouflage an underreporting scenario. Experts point out that the cumulative total of infections is almost certain to be much higher, as many cases may go undetected or unrecorded. Thus, this difference with the decrease in testing in several countries, including the USA. Americans recorded an average of 635,200 tests performed on the 5th, well below the 2.6 million performed at the peak seen in January.
For University of Washington epidemiologist Ali Mokdad, this scenario of few tests is dangerous. “If you don’t test, then you don’t know what variants there are,” he told The New York Times.
The concern about the decrease in the number of exams is added to the relaxation of measures, such as the use of masks and social distance, seen in different regions. “What’s happening globally and in the US is that people have basically given up. They just want to get back to their normal lives,” said Mokdad.
This desire, however, can be impacted by new variants and subvariants. BA.2 in the US, for example, is already responsible for 85% of new cases, according to a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The country sees a slight increase in infections, with a moving average 8% higher than two weeks ago, a scenario that contributed to the decision to maintain the mandatory use of masks on American public transport.
Still, the US is experiencing more easing than restrictions, but the situation varies in different parts of the world, depending on the stage of the disease in the region. Hong Kong, for example, is still trying to get out of the outbreak that began in January, and Shanghai residents find themselves in the midst of a strict lockdown, with food supplies threatening.
Globally, 5.1 billion people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 4.6 billion are on a full immunization schedule, but like cases, the situation varies by region. While 73.4% of Americans are fully vaccinated, that number drops to 15.4% in Africa.
