Coronavirus News Update – August 4: World Crosses 200 Million Mark in Cases
A panda at the Chengdu Panda Base
The world crossed the 200 million mark in coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the virus surged in many parts of the globe, including in the United States.
As of Wednesday morning, the world has recorded 200.5 million Covid-19 cases and over 4.3 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 180.7 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 92,005, a 139% change and a trend that is fueled by the highly contagious India, or Delta, variant. The 14-day average number for the world is 601,023, a 16% increase, while the average death toll over the same period is 9,227, also a 16% change.
In the United States, the death toll is now 630,506, an increase of 131 in the past day. Since the start of the pandemic the country has recorded over 36 million cases, a higher figure than any other country and one that is followed by India, which now has over 31.8 million officially recorded cases and 425,880 officially recorded deaths, although experts believe that both number are in reality significantly higher.
Since the start of vaccinations at the end of last year over 4.25 billion doses have been administered across the globe as of Wednesday morning, an increase of 0.04 billion and the equivalent of over 55 doses for every 100 people, a one-dose increase per hundred over the previous 24 hours.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Wednesday, 191.8 million people in the United States – or 57.8% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 49.7%, or 164.9 million people, are now fully vaccinated, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 346.9 million. Breaking this down further, 70% of the population over the age of 18 – or 180.8 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 60.6% of the same group – or 156.5 million people – is fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, China is scrambling to contain the Delta variant, which has reached half of China’s regions.
Finally, in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration might grant full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by early September, according to those familiar with the matter.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
