Global Spread of COVID Variants Triggers Emergency...Ranks 3rd Leading Cause of Death in the US

Global COVID-19 Cases Near 22 Million... Surpassing Accident Deaths in the US
Fear Grows Amid Spread of Coronavirus Variants... Vaccine Race Expected to Intensify

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As variants of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread worldwide, the global cumulative confirmed cases are approaching 22 million. In the United States, COVID-19 has risen to the third leading cause of death, with nearly 800,000 cumulative deaths worldwide, intensifying public fear. Following Russia, China has also approved a COVID-19 vaccine that has not yet fully completed clinical trials, further escalating the vaccine race.

On the 17th (local time), according to the COVID-19 tally by the statistics site Worldometer, the global cumulative confirmed cases reached 21,979,101, nearing 22 million. The cumulative death toll stood at 776,090, approaching 800,000. On the same day, Thomas Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated, "COVID-19 has become the third leading cause of death in the United States," adding, "It has surpassed other causes such as accidents, injuries, lung diseases, diabetes, and Alzheimer's." According to Worldometer's count on that day, the U.S. cumulative death toll was 173,541, ranking third after heart disease (655,381 deaths) and cancer (599,274 deaths) based on 2018 CDC statistics.

Japan is also on high alert due to COVID-19. As of the previous day, Japan confirmed 15 COVID-19 deaths, the highest since the emergency declaration was lifted on May 25. The number of new confirmed cases that day was 644. After the emergency declaration was lifted, which included requests to refrain from going out and business closures, Japan maintained daily deaths below 10, but the recent resurgence has increased deaths, heightening public fear.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The global resurgence of COVID-19 is attributed to the spread of variant coronavirus strains. The day before, Malaysia reported a variant with up to 10 times stronger transmissibility than COVID-19. Nur Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia's Director-General of Health, announced via his social network service (SNS) that "four mutations were found in virus clusters." This variant had previously been detected in Europe and the United States and is known to be 2.4 to 10 times more contagious than the original virus reported in Wuhan, China.

As fear grows, the global vaccine race is intensifying. According to China's state-run Global Times on the previous day, the Chinese government granted a patent on the 11th for a COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by domestic pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics and the Chinese military. This vaccine completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials by the 20th of last month and is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials. Similar to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, which was promoted as the world's first approved vaccine, the patent was granted without completing final clinical trials.

However, despite not completing all clinical phases, Russia's vaccine has reportedly received orders exceeding one billion doses worldwide, indicating that securing vaccines will be challenging. As advanced countries such as the U.S. and Europe pre-order most vaccines, shortages are expected, and developing countries will likely have to secure vaccines by any means necessary. On the same day, Mexican President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador stated at a press conference, "If the results of the Russian vaccine show effectiveness, we will contact them immediately," adding, "If they come to dispel doubts, I will be the first to receive it."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.