China News Service, August 11 (Bian Lei, Li Hongyu) On August 11, Beijing time, more than 6 months after the WHO announced that the new crown epidemic constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern" and issued the highest level alert, The total number of confirmed cases of new crown worldwide has exceeded 20 million, and more than 730,000 people have lost their lives.
There have been more than 20 million confirmed cases of new crown worldwide. (Drawing: Wei Leichao)
Behind this heavy figure, "a disturbing but unequivocal fact is that most people still underestimate the true impact of the new crown pneumonia pandemic", the British "Financial Times" published an article on August 4, "Its long-term The impact may be more far-reaching."
The total number of confirmed cases of new crowns worldwide increased from 1 million to 10 million in 86 days; from 10 million to 20 million, it took only 44 days.
The spread of the virus has surprised mankind.
"This is a once-in-a-century health crisis, and its impact will last for decades." WHO Director-General Tan Desai said with emotion: "We must learn to coexist with it, and we must use the tools we have to interact with it. The fight goes on."
Data map: Pedestrians in Times Square, New York, USA on August 9, 2020 local time.
More than half of the confirmed cases worldwide are concentrated in 3 countries
India or the cumulative number of confirmed diagnoses exceeded 3 million in 2 weeks?
The most direct impact of this epidemic is fear, disease and death.
According to statistics from Reuters on August 5, in the past two weeks, nearly 5,900 people died of the new crown virus every 24 hours on a global scale; every 15 seconds, one person died as a result.
At present, the total number of confirmed cases of the new crown in the United States, Brazil and India ranks among the top three in the world. The cumulative number of confirmed cases in these three countries has exceeded 10 million. Among them, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 5 million on August 9, and the number of confirmed cases and deaths accounted for about a quarter of the global cases.
The global epidemic is spreading rapidly, and there have been more than 500,000 confirmed cases of new crown in 5 countries. (Drawing: Wei Leichao)
In India, the virus is spreading rapidly. On August 7, the total number of confirmed cases in India exceeded 2 million, which increased from 1 million to 2 million in only 21 days. According to the Hindustan Times, if this growth rate is maintained, experts worry that India will add another 1 million confirmed cases in the next, or it will only take about 2 weeks, India may soon surpass Brazil and the United States, and “become a global epidemic. The worst country".
Right now, the epidemic in South Korea, New Zealand and other countries is slowing down, and life is gradually returning to normal. However, the rebound trend of the epidemic in many European countries has raised the alarm to prevent the "second wave of epidemic". According to the analysis, for a long period of time in the future, normalizing epidemic prevention may become an inevitable trend for many countries to respond.
The epidemic is overwhelming, and the economies of many countries are down
Many companies around the world "docking to survive"
The spread of the epidemic has caused a huge impact on the global economy, trade and financial markets, and the economies of many countries have declined. In order to hedge the impact of the epidemic, many companies around the world can only choose to "docking their tails to survive", hoping to tide over the difficulties through layoffs.
Airbus, Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer, wants to lay off 15,000 people, and Emirates wants to lay off 9,000 people... According to data from the professional website "FlightRadar 24" that tracks global flight status, the number of global flights will drop sharply in 2020.
In addition, the sales statistics released by the major Korean auto companies on August 3 showed that the sales of the five major automakers including Hyundai Motor were also affected. The global sales in July decreased by 10.4% year-on-year; even the fitness industry in South Africa was affected, with nearly 30,000 People were unemployed during the epidemic.
But the most affected group is still the unemployed. According to the latest data from the US Department of Labor, the US unemployment rate fell to 10.2% in July, still at a record high. At the same time, the cost of the American grocery industry is rising at the fastest rate in decades, forcing more families to reduce their food budgets.
In the same month, the United Kingdom released data stating that since March, the number of people employed in the United Kingdom has decreased by nearly 650,000 and will face a greater wave of unemployment; the African Development Bank pointed out in July that the African economy may shrink by 1.7% to 3.4% in 2020. 24.6 to 30 million Africans may lose their jobs.
Data map: On August 9, 2020 local time, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a woman sells jewelry on the street. Photo by China News Agency reporter Mo Chengxiong
"The disaster of a generation"
One billion student education is a problem
"What we are facing today is a generation of disasters. It (the epidemic) may waste mankind’s inestimable potential, undermine the progress made by mankind in decades, and exacerbate deep-rooted inequality."
On August 4, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres issued an education briefing and delivered the above-mentioned speech. He stated that the epidemic has caused "the most serious education interruption in human history."
The United Nations estimates that the epidemic has affected more than 1 billion students worldwide. The risks faced by children don't stop there. The "India Express" pointed out that "under the epidemic, India's digital divide has extended long and deep, further separating the rich from the poor, and the technology owners from the lack..."
In Faridabad, India, 8th grade student Suchi Singh has three siblings, but only one mobile phone at home. During the suspension period, 4 people can only take turns using their mobile phones to go online. This means that there are always people who are forced to miss school. In this regard, his father was deeply disturbed, but when he was struggling to support his family, the mobile phone had become a "luxury."
On the way to school, poor children have been "stumbled" by the epidemic. The United Nations made recommendations in a briefing issued in August. The briefing requires all countries to comprehensively plan school resumption; ensure education funding and coordinate response to impact; strengthen the resilience of the education system; reshape education and accelerate positive changes in teaching and learning.
Data map: On July 21, 2020, local time, in Mumbai, India, a non-governmental organization health work volunteer wearing protective clothing and a smart helmet equipped with a thermal scanning sensor is checking the body temperature of residents in residential areas.
The virus may "migrate" from country to country
Is mutation prevention more difficult?
Recently, many countries have reported that the new coronavirus has mutated, which has caused widespread concern. South Korea said on August 10 that three cases of "spike protein" mutations affecting infection were found in imported new crown cases from abroad. However, at present, it is still unknown whether the virus has changed its infectious power and toxicity.
In addition, Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases recently pointed out that a small amount of base mutations have occurred in the epidemic strains in the country; at the end of June, Russian experts also found that the new coronavirus spread in the country had some mutations, but it did not lead to major changes in the characteristics of the virus. Variety.
In fact, the mutation of the new coronavirus has already appeared.
In early July, Kokhov, the technical director of the WHO health emergency project, said that the new coronavirus D614G mutation had been discovered in February. Studies have shown that 29% of new coronavirus samples have this mutation. But at present, there is no evidence that this mutation will cause more serious illness.
So, as winter in the northern hemisphere approaches, will the epidemic be “worse” in the region? The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) pointed out that at present, countries in the southern hemisphere are currently in winter. Countries including Chile and South Africa are suffering from influenza, other winter influenza viruses, and the new crown virus.
The BBC said that assuming the same situation occurs in the northern hemisphere, the northern hemisphere will also face severe tests in winter.
On August 6, local time, the World Health Organization stated that there are currently about 165 vaccines in the trial phase around the world, and 6 are in the phase III clinical trial phase, of which 3 are from China. (Drawing: Wei Leichao)
Larry Brilian, an epidemiologist in California, predicts that in the next three to four years, as the virus hotspot moves from one country to another, the world will continue to fight the virus, and the impact may continue. Decades.
However, when vaccines and more effective treatments are put into large-scale applications, Brilian said that people will be expected to quickly get rid of the "quagmire" of the epidemic.