Global coronavirus cases pass 200 million as Delta variant spreads

Name: Covid-19 Delta variant: how infectious it is and how it may ‘shift thinking’ on countries reopening
Uploaded: 2021-08-04T20:27:18.000Z
Duration: 5 min 33 s
Description: Covid-19 Delta variant: how infectious it is and how it may ‘shift thinking’ on countries reopening

It took over a year for Covid-19 cases to hit 100 million mark, while the next 100 million were reported in just over six months

The US, Brazil, Indonesia, India and Iran represent about 38 per cent of all global cases reported each day

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

China’s Wuhan city is testing its 12 million residents for the coronavirus. Photo: AFP

Reuters

Published: 4:27am, 5 Aug 2021Updated: 10:47pm, 5 Aug 2021

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 200 million on Wednesday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, as the more infectious Delta variant threatens areas with low vaccination rates and strains health care systems.

The global surge in cases is highlighting the widening gap in inoculation rates between wealthy and poor nations. Cases are rising in about one-third of the world’s countries, many of which have not even given half their population a first dose.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday called for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine boosters until at least 10 per cent of the population in every country was vaccinated.

“We need an urgent reversal, from the majority of vaccines going to high-income countries, to the majority going to low-income countries,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

05:33

Covid-19 Delta variant: how infectious it is and how it may ‘shift thinking’ on countries reopening

The Delta variant is upending all assumptions about the virus and roiling economies, with disease experts scrambling to find whether the latest version of coronavirus is making people, especially unvaccinated individuals, sicker than before.