Pandemic closes 2021 with more than double the number of infections than in 2020

The year 2021 closes with 198 million global infections of COVID-19 confirmed in these 12 months, more than double the 83 million in 2020, while the deaths were 3.5 million, 84% more than the 1.9 million last year, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The figures, although still very high, show a decrease in the lethality of the coronavirus, which was 2.2% in 2020 and 1.7% according to these figures, which the WHO admits are conservative, since the real numbers could be higher for the many undiagnosed cases and deaths.

In the cumulative two years since the health crisis began with the notification of the first cases in China to the WHO, COVID-19 has registered 281 million confirmed cases and 5.4 million deaths.

The pandemic is one of the most serious in history, although its figures are still far from those caused by the bubonic plague at various times, or the flu of 1918-2020, which caused tens of millions of deaths.

The pandemic is experiencing a wave of exponential increase in positives, which is believed to be linked to the rise of the omicron variant, with a record figure of 1.3 million confirmed infections on December 28, although this “tsunami of infections”, as defined by the WHO is not accompanied by an increase in deaths.

The year 2021, consecrated on the planet to the vaccination of the largest possible number of people against COVID-19, also ends with 9.150 million vaccines administered in the world, with which 58% of human beings have received at least one dose, according to the data provided by the national health networks.

A dozen countries exceed 80% vaccination rates, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Spain, China, South Korea, Portugal or Cuba, although almost a hundred States have not achieved the goal that the WHO had set to achieve a rate of at least 40% in all territories.