Coronavirus pandemic closes 2021 with more than double the number of infections than in 2020

This 2021 ends with 198 million infections of COVID-19 worldwide, which were confirmed throughout these 12 months. This figure represents more than double the 83 million in 2020. As for those who died from coronavirus, this year there were 3.5 million, 84% more than the 1.9 million last year, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The figures, although still very high, show a decrease in the lethality of the coronavirus, which was 2.2% in 2020 and 1.7% according to these figures, which WHO They admit they are conservative, as the actual numbers may have been higher because of the many undiagnosed cases and deaths.

In the cumulative two years since the health crisis began with the notification of the first cases in China to the WHO, COVID-19 has registered 281 million confirmed cases and 5.4 million deaths.

The pandemic is one of the most serious in history, although its figures are still far from those caused by the bubonic plague at various times, or the 1918-20 flu, which caused tens of millions of deaths.

The pandemic is experiencing a wave of exponential increase in positives, which is believed to be linked to the rise of the omicron variant, with a record number of 1.3 million infections confirmed on December 29, although this “tsunami of contagions”, As defined by the WHO, is not accompanied by an increase in deaths.

The year 2021, dedicated to the vaccination of the largest possible number of people against COVID-19, also ends with 9.15 billion vaccines administered in the world, with which 58% of human beings have received at least one dose, according to the data provided by the national health networks.

A dozen countries exceed 80% vaccination rates, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Spain, China, South Korea, Portugal or Cuba, although almost a hundred States have not achieved the goal that the WHO had set to achieve a rate of at least 40% in all territories.