China News Service, February 15th. According to real-time statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 8:24 on the 15th, Beijing time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally has exceeded 108 million, with more than 2.39 million deaths. .
In the United States, where the epidemic is the most severe, although the growth rate of newly diagnosed cases has slowed down, health officials urge the public to remain vigilant; studies have found that as early as July 2020, the United States has mutated new coronaviruses; currently, The United States is advancing the new crown vaccination, but the data in some areas is chaotic, making the vaccination difficult.
Data map: The United States under the epidemic.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
The 7-day average daily increase in diagnoses in the U.S. drops below 100,000
Currently, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States has exceeded 27 million, with more than 485,000 deaths.
Statistics from Johns Hopkins show that the average number of confirmed cases in the United States for seven consecutive days increased to 200,000 in December 2020, and increased to approximately 250,000 in January 2021.
However, this average data fell below 100,000 cases for the first time on February 12, 2021 local time in more than three months, and the data on February 13 also remained below 100,000 cases.
In this regard, Rochelle Varensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "Although these downward trends are encouraging, they are down from a very high position." Varensky also pointed out that currently The increasing number of diagnoses in the United States remains at around 100,000, and there are still about 1,500 to 3,500 deaths every day. These numbers are about 2.5 times the number in the summer of 2020.
In view of this, Varensky called on people to continue to wear masks and remain vigilant.
In addition, Valensky also said that the mutant new coronavirus appears to be more contagious and has now spread to more than 30 states in the United States, which may cause more confirmed and death cases in the United States.
Data map: The United States under the epidemic.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan
Research: A mutated new coronavirus has appeared in the United States in July 2020
In response to the spread of mutant viruses in the United States, a study recently released by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that as early as July 2020, a mutant new coronavirus was discovered in Los Angeles County, California.
Studies have shown that this mutant virus named "CAL.20C" is spreading in at least 19 states in the United States and has spread to 6 countries around the world.
Data map: Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci: Vaccination can better prevent re-infection
In order to control the epidemic, the United States is trying to promote new crown vaccination. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so far, the United States has received nearly 53 million doses of vaccine, of which 14.07 million have completed two doses of vaccination.
Regarding whether vaccination can prevent the mutated virus, Fauci, an American infectious disease expert, said on the 14th local time that there have indeed been cases of re-infection of the mutated virus in South Africa after recovering infected persons.
However, Fauci believes that although this mutated virus has reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine to a certain extent, "the vaccine still has some buffer and can provide some protection," and said that after vaccination, it can better prevent re-infection.
Data map: A new crown vaccination site in the United States.
California's new crown vaccination data is chaotic
Nevertheless, in the actual vaccination process in the United States, there are many problems.
On February 14, local time, the Los Angeles Times reported that due to a series of reasons such as missed doses, upload errors, time delays, and software malfunctions, the state’s vaccination data has become "extraordinarily confusing." The dose of available vaccine cannot be tracked at any time.
Prior to this, California Governor Newsom has been demanding to speed up the vaccination rate and threatened to withdraw the vaccine from areas with slow vaccination rates.
However, due to problems with vaccine data management, many county-level officials in California worry that wrong data will cause the state government to draw wrong conclusions, leading to increased conflicts between governments at all levels and reducing the efficiency of vaccination.