Coronavirus Pandemic – An Update

The Black Death

In previous posts I have looked at the impact of plague and pestilence on the world and on Britain and Ireland in particular.  The bubonic plague, more commonly known as the Black Death, arrived on the shores of Europe in October 1347 and claimed an estimate of over 75 – 200 million lives in Eurasia.

The so-called Spanish flu, which raged from 1918 to 1920, infected 500 million people around the world. It became a pandemic on three different occasions and killed 40 million between 1918 to 1919. Medical progress and vaccination development followed helping to control and combat the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus

Coronavirus

Today, the world's coronavirus death toll exceeded one million, with the US, Brazil and India making up nearly half of the total. More than 33 million cases have been confirmed around the world. 

 The virus, which causes the respiratory infection Covid-19, was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019. The outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first months of 2020 and was declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March. 

World Picture 

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world and countries that managed to suppress the initial outbreaks are now seeing infections rise again. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the global total could hit two million before an effective vaccine is widely used. In India, the official number of confirmed infections has reached six million, the second highest in the world after the US.

United States 

Cases of coronavirus are surging in 21 different US states. The number of cases in these states increased by at least 10% in the last week, compared to the week before. The US has recorded more than seven million cases of the virus, more than a fifth of the world's total. With more than 200,000 deaths, the US also has the world's highest death toll. 

Other countries that have seen a resurgence of the virus include Russia, Peru, South Korea, Canada, and Australia - although following the reintroduction of tougher restrictions some of these are now seeing cases fall again. 

Economic Impact 

Governments across the world have been forced to restrict public movement and close businesses and venues to try and slow the spread of the virus. This has had a devastating impact on the global economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that damage to the world's major economies is four times worse than the 2009 global financial crisis. 

Vaccine 

Most the world's population is still vulnerable to the virus. There are around 40 different coronavirus vaccines currently in clinical trials including one being developed by the University of Oxford that is already in an advanced stage of testing. Trials of the Oxford vaccine show it can trigger an immune response. 

 Most experts think a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021. Scientists are optimistic that, if trials are successful, a small number of people may be vaccinated before the end of this year. It is thought that 60-70% of people needed to be immune to the virus to stop it spreading easily.

Conclusion

As the number of new coronavirus infections and deaths continue to grow, life has changed radically. Quarantine measures have been imposed to try and limit the spread of the disease as in previous centuries. Throughout history, plagues and diseases have returned in waves, sometimes with even greater ferocity. High hopes hang on the early development of a vaccine and effective treatments but this by no means certain.

For more information please see:

https://letterfromballinloughane.blogspot.com/2020/03/plague-and-pestilence-past-and-present.html

https://letterfromballinloughane.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-black-death-in-ireland.html