Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update (2 February 2021)
Format
For the latest data and information on COVID-19, please see:
Global epidemiological situation
Globally, 3.7 million new cases were reported last week, a 13% decline as compared to the previous week, and the third consecutive week showing a decline in cases. There were 96 000 new deaths, and a 1% decline as compared to the previous week, (Figure 1). This brings the total number of cases to over 102 million and the total number of deaths to 2.2 million from 222 countries and territories. Last week, all WHO regions, except South-East Asia reported a decline in new cases (Table 1). Although new deaths declined globally by 1%, they rose in the Western Pacific (21%), Eastern Mediterranean (9%), and the Americas (4%).
Capitalism vs. socialism: The pandemic and the global class struggle
It is one year since the World Health Organization (WHO), on January 30, 2020, declared that the outbreak of COVID-19 constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a statement accompanying the declaration noting that 98 cases had been reported in 18 countries outside of China. “Although these numbers are still relatively small compared to the number of cases in China,” he said, “we must all act together now to limit further spread.”
One year later, the total number of cases has passed 100 million. The total number of deaths has reached 2,225,000. The daily death toll is the highest it has ever been, with more than 14,000 people succumbing to the virus every day.
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Here’s a riposte.
When Covid-19 started to spread from the People’s Republic of China to 20 other countries, and following the recommendations of the Emergency Committee, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on January 30 last year so declared the outbreak as constituting a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Serious public health events that endanger international public health may be determined under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 to be PHEIC. The term is defined in the IHR as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease; and to potentially require a coordinated international response.”
The US finally has a national mask mandate Rahul Rao
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It’s now been a year since the WHO first declared the COVID-19 pandemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The pandemic’s toll has been catastrophic, but governments around the world continue to vaccinate millions of people daily, bringing the end ever closer. Here’s what came to pass over the previous week.
Tighter US mask requirements, longer ban on evictions go into effect
On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a far-reaching set of orders that dramatically expands the federal mask mandate. Starting today, all passengers in the US are required to mask up on any form of public transit: ferries, trains, buses, taxis, and rideshares like Uber or Lyft. Airlines and other transit operators are required to remove passengers who don’t comply.