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The number of cases in the last five to six weeks, during the peak of Omicron’s COVID-19 mutation epidemic, is higher than the number of deaths during the same period during the flu pandemic of 1918-1919, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in the US cites health experts on the 5th (local time). year reported
It is analyzed that it will be recorded as a pandemic with the largest number of patients in 100 years.
According to reports, many countries and regions re-recorded the highest number of confirmed cases since the outbreak of Omicron. In the UK, since the appearance of Omicron in late November of last year, 1 in 6 residents has been infected, the National Statistics Office (ONS) modeling analyzed. In Denmark, the rate is 1 in 5 and in Israel 1 in 9, authorities estimate.
Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, said: “It’s an incredibly unique moment to have so many people being infected with the same pathogen at the same time.”
In mid-January, when the U.S. outbreak was at its peak, it was estimated that one in five residents was infected with Omicron, and that number will double in mid-February, Fred Hutch Cancer Institute expert Trevor Bedford estimates.
According to Our World in Data, a statistical site at Oxford University, there were 84 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world in just one month last month, which is equivalent to the number of confirmed cases throughout 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
Fortunately, there were 217,442 COVID-19-related deaths in January due to vaccinations and previous infections and treatments, much less than in 2020 alone.
In particular, the IHME estimates that up to 80 to 90 percent of Omicron infections may be asymptomatic, meaning that they are likely to cause the largest number of cases in the shortest amount of time, the WSJ said.
Omicron was first discovered in Botswana and South Africa at the end of November last year and quickly spread around the world. As the fifth mutation of concern designated by the World Health Organization (WHO), it has overtaken the delta mutation and has established itself as the dominant species in many countries, including the United States and Europe.
sabi@news1.kr
