A look at countries with the most COVID deaths

As countries all over the world try to contain the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating their citizens at a fernetic pace, experts have started counting losses. The pandemic, which is in its second year, is showing signs of ebbing in a few countries by experts are wary of fresh waves that could be more aggressive and infectious.

The virus that was first detected in China’s  Wuhan in December 2019, has infected crores of people all over the world and killed close to 40 lakh of them.

As vaccination picks pace, countries have started easing restrictions and are almost mask-free. 

Here’s the list of countries with the highest recorded coronavirus deaths:

1: United States- 6.05 lakh

The World Health Organization first called the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The then-president Donald Trump and the authorities severely downplayed the virus even after repeated warnings from the experts. Trump dismissed the virus as seasonal flu which he later admitted in a recorded interview in March that he knew COVID-19 was more severe and that he wanted to play down its severity. 

The new government, led by President Joe Biden, has been aggressively vaccinating people. In a recent statement, America’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that most COVID deaths are now among the unvaccinated people. “About 99.2% of recent COVID-19 deaths in the United States involved unvaccinated people,” he said.

2: Brazil- 5.24 lakh

Brazil to this date does not have an effective, centralised and coordinated public health response to the outbreak. 

“Public health measures have become a political battlefield in Brazil. As a result, science-based policies are associated with political opinions, rather than the need to protect individuals and their communities from COVID-19”, said Dr Christos Christou, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). 

Due to a lack of a system, the intensive care units in the country are being flooded with patients putting even more pressure on the nation’s health care facilities. There is an acute shortage infrastructure such as medical oxygen, PPE kits etc to counter COVID-19 . 

Apart from the lack of resources and shortcomings due to the political equation in Brazil, there is also a shortage of local health professionals. Foreign health staff and Brazilians with foreign qualifications are not permitted to practice in the country. 

3: India- 4.04 lakh

India’s healthcare system was tested by the second wave of COVID-19 in April-May this year. The daily case tally set new global records of repeatedly surpassing the 300,000 mark every day for weeks. According to Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, the death toll was at least two times higher. 

As numbers rose, states complained of lack of oxygen, ventilators and hospital beds for COVID-19 patients. Desperate pleas for help flooded the social media as prices of oxygen cylinders and medicines touched the sky.  

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With the rising demand, there was mounting pressure on testing facilities, vaccine providers and especially the healthcare workers. 

According to experts the surge in cases could have been avoided if the government had acted in time. Sumit Chanda, an infectious-disease expert at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in California while speaking to TIMES said that the warning signs were there since March and till April they had turned red yet the administration ignored them. 

Many faulted the decision to hold elections to five states amid the pandemic and to go ahead with the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar that was 

attended by 9.1 million pilgrims.