• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Global Covid-19 Cases Top 10 Million as Pandemic Gains Momentum in Nigeria, around the world

Nigeria (1)

On a day Nigeria recorded its highest daily record, the confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe has surged past 10 million, a chilling reminder that the deadliest pandemic of the modern era is stronger than ever.

The Nigerian and global milestones are a rebuff to health experts and global leaders — including U.S. President Donald Trump — who had hoped early in the pandemic that it would fade away with the summer heat. Instead, infections are multiplying faster than ever.

In Nigeria, epidemiologists are now warning that the pandemic is bound to get worse with some saying peak infection may be two months away. In Abuja, reports emerged of the death Nasir Ajanah, chief judge of Kogi state, at a Coronavirus isolation centre in the federal.

Also Read: https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/covid-19-is-capitalist-economy-on-retreat/

It took four months after the pathogen first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan for the world to reach 1 million infections.

The spread of the coronavirus has steadily accelerated, compressing the time frame to a million additional cases every week now.

And the latest milestone may serve only as a relative marker, as many believe the true number to be higher given the difficulty of tracking infections.

The daily official count reached 150,000 cases in mid-June, prompting World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to warn that the pandemic has entered “a new and dangerous phase.”

The death toll is equally sobering, at almost 500,000, and some health officials predict 1 million fatalities may not be far off.

“We haven’t seen the end of Covid-19, and we haven’t seen the full scope of it yet, either,” said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“This will be as dangerous as the Spanish flu in many ways,” he said, referring to the 1918 pandemic that infected an estimated 500 million people.

The global epicenter of the coronavirus is continuing to shift. First it was China, then Europe — and now developing countries with weaker health-care systems like Brazil and India are reeling.

Since late March, the U.S. has had the most cases globally and is still adding infections at a record daily pace as a resurgence overwhelms states like Texas, Arizona and Florida, forcing many to reverse plans to open their economies.

Health officials and governments are increasingly accepting there may be no quick return to what life was like before the pandemic, as economies have been battered by prevention measures that restricted people’s movements and put a damper on consumption.