There are still up to one million coronavirus infections per day in the world. The situation in some countries is very different from Europe.
Russia may have a much worse corona situation than reported and China’s corona lockdowns are already starting to affect the entire world economy. In Chile, tourists finally got to Easter Island after a break of more than two years.
We investigated corona rumors from different parts of the world.
Russia may be hiding its real situation
This week, Russia has encountered the highest number of corona infections since April, according to the statistics of the World Health Organization WHO. The corona figures reported by Russia can be much higher in reality for several reasons.
Director of the Alexander Institute Markku Kangaspuro estimates that a society in crisis due to war and sanctions can hide its problems even more. After the winter and spring omikron battle, Russia even declared the corona won.
Currently, there are no corona restrictions in Russia, and according to Kangaspuro, the threshold for imposing them is huge in a society whose economy is suffering and where the mood of the people cannot be lowered. Sanctions from Western countries have also been reflected in the health care sector, for example as challenges in the availability of medicines.
– Russia’s health care is under quite a bit of pressure just because of the war of aggression, if the estimated numbers of Russian casualties are correct. All in all, the number of soldiers treated in hospitals in Russia is huge, Kangaspuro says.
It is not certain whether the Russian military has been spared from large corona waves.
The standard of living in Russia varies enormously from region to region. Certainly not all corona cases are diagnosed, and some Russians don’t even have the opportunity to be covered by healthcare.
– Even in the case of corona deaths, it has been estimated that there are twice as many deaths in Russia compared to the results of their calculation method.
Vaccination coverage also sucks, because according to statistics, only about half of the country’s inhabitants have been vaccinated. According to Kangaspuro, some people still do not believe in the coronavirus, and vaccines are not trusted.
– Even during the pandemic, distrust towards the authorities was high. If vaccines were available, not nearly everyone took them. Vaccines were not even available for some, says Kangaspuro.
When it comes to vaccines, Kangaspuro is also interested in the importance of their diplomatic influence. Russia, the United States and China in particular donated their own vaccines to poor countries.
– At least in the previous round, vaccines were used as tools of diplomacy and influence. Now, because of the war, the situation of confrontation has grown.
China isolated an entire Ikea
In China, full lockdowns and zero tolerance regarding the coronavirus continue for the third year already.
In recent years, China has conducted, among other things, weekly mass testing and quarantined entire cities. Situations change quickly, and complete lockdowns are ordered wherever Corona is spotted. Due to the strict corona policy, people have been stuck in restaurants and gyms and even on a holiday island for long periods of time.
One of the latest cases that came to the world’s attention was reported on Saturday from Shanghai, where people were seen fleeing from an Ikea store after information about two possible corona-infected people in the building came to light. For example, the British one With BBC video (you go to another service) you can see people trying to get out of the building with guards holding the door.
The economic consequences caused by China’s zero tolerance, i.e. Zero-Covid, have especially got Western countries on their toes.
The world’s second largest economy has been struggling, and the country is not meeting its economic growth forecasts. Western companies do not dare to invest in China and even move their production elsewhere.
In Japan, there is an opening for hundreds of thousands of babies
The seventh wave of infection is underway in Japan, and according to WHO statistics, there have been more infections than ever before. The country still has a very low death rate, which the country justifies with the use of masks, conscientious vaccination and its already healthy population.
The country has already opened its borders to countries with a good corona situation, and no new movement restrictions are currently being considered, reports The Japan Times.
The decrease in social contacts in Japan has had its consequences. The number of couples getting married has been decreasing even before the corona virus, and there is a three-year negative balance According to The Japan Times (You will be transferred to another service) estimated to be around 150,000 pairs. This, in turn, is estimated to affect the birth rate, and by the end of 2022, Japan may have a gap of up to 243,000 babies.
Vaccination coverage still falters in African countries
According to Our World in Data, a statistical publication used by several media and universities, an estimated 67 percent of the world’s population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine.
In poor countries, the number is still small. The worst shortage of vaccines is in Africa, where only 21 percent of the population has received a complete set of vaccines. The variation in the situation can be huge between African countries.
Whereas in Botswana 68 percent of the population has received their first dose of vaccine, the small Republic of Burundi between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania has only 0.13 percent of its population vaccinated, based on the latest figures from Our World in Data.
According to the World Health Organization Who, vaccinations in Burundi only started in October last year. Burundi was still in the summer of 2021 one of the last countries to refuse to receive corona vaccines.
The only countries left in the world are Eritrea in East Africa and North Korea, which still does not admit its corona cases.
In the United States, two-part guidelines were introduced
In the United States, corona numbers have remained on a fine rise since May.
The number of new corona infections has reached up to 200,000 infections per day. All in all, more than 91 million corona infections have been confirmed in the United States – that’s more than a quarter of the entire nation.
No level has safety distance, movement or assembly restrictions anymore. Test screenings by schools, workplaces and other organizations and quarantine recommendations for unvaccinated exposed people were also left out.
The new guidelines have caused conflicting reactions. According to The Washington Post magazine, experts are now considering whether the guidelines are intended to shift the responsibility onto the shoulders of individuals or to make the lives of disadvantaged people and the country’s economy easier.