Oh no! Coronavirus could kill 1.9 million more people by year-end
Another
1.9 million more people could die from the coronavirus (COVID-19) by the end of
2020.
With
more than 870 thousand coronavirus deaths already recorded, a new
projection shows that this could just be the beginning.
As the virus outbreak continues to spread in
the Northern Hemisphere, where most of the world’s population lives, fatalities
are projected to worsen if governments don’t act soon.
The
wave will peak with around 30,000 deaths in mid-December, as respiratory illnesses
tend to peak in colder months, states the model which is based on human
behaviour and therefore has some degree of uncertainty.
Thousands of lives could be saved if
governments create mask mandates and people social distance but the world’s leaders are now being affected “COVID
fatigue”, said Dr Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Even with a vaccine, there
wouldn’t be enough time to distribute enough of it to avoid the terrible
forecast.
