地球，人間煉獄 XCVII (97th、九十七) ：A Chinese official acknowledged that the country’s vaccines had a low overall effectiveness. Russia’s hidden Covid deaths. covid-19 was the third-leading cause of death in America in 2020.

地球，人間煉獄 XCVII (97th、九十七) ：

Russia’s hidden Covid deaths

At least 300,000 more people died last year during the coronavirus pandemic than were reported in Russia’s most widely cited official statistics.

Not all of those deaths were necessarily from the virus. But demographers see “excess deaths” as the most accurate way to assess the virus’s overall toll. By that measure, the pandemic killed about one in every 400 people in Russia, compared with one in every 600 in the U.S. For much of the last year, Russia has appeared more focused on the public-relations and economic aspects of the pandemic than on fighting the virus itself, but the deaths are an open secret.

Context: The artificially depressed official numbers have seeded widespread distrust, confusion and vaccine hesitancy. In February, a poll found 60 percent of Russians said they were not planning to get Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

In India, which has long avoided a full-frontal wave, the coronavirus is out of control as vaccinations lag. A Chinese official acknowledged that the country’s vaccines had a low overall effectiveness, which could mean more doses or booster shots would be needed for the more than 60 countries that have approved their use. The B.1.1.7 variant is more contagious and deadlier than the virus that dominated last year. Watch its spread in this frightening graphic.

The Economist

 

Data released at the end of March show that covid-19 was the third-leading cause of death in America in 2020.

But even this figure undercounts the pandemic’s true death toll.

Early estimates from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention shows that mortality from all causes increases by 17.7% in 2020. Most of this increase was caused by covid-19, but more than 30% of these “excess deaths” were attributed to other illnesses such as heart disease.

Excess deaths were disproportionately high amongst African-Americans.

Read about the link between the virus and excess mortality

https://econ.st/320IRNi