COVID-19 pandemic nowhere near the end

The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of coming to an end.

As of Friday, the seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases in the US was more than 107,100, the highest average in nearly six months. More than 66,000 Americans were hospitalised with COVID-19 as of late Saturday, the highest number since February.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 97 percent of Americans live in areas with “substantial” or “high” Covid-19 transmission.

Even countries that had previously done well in controlling the pandemic is now seeing a surge in cases.

“The Asia-Pacific countries, by and large, have had an incredibly successful year and a half responding to Covid,” said Karen A Grépin, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health.

For examples, countries like China and Australia have reported just 4,848 and 939 deaths from COVID-19 respectively.

However, the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant changed things, with millions of people in Australia and China now back in lockdown and health systems in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia becoming overwhelmed.

“If anyone thinks this is over, they're wrong,” said Dale Fisher, a professor in infectious diseases at Singapore's National University Hospital.

Dr Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the World Health Organization’s team that helped eradicate smallpox, similarly said that the world is nowhere near the end of the pandemic.

“I think we’re closer to the beginning than we are to the end,” said Brilliant.

Brilliant said the Delta variant is “maybe the most contagious virus” ever, and there may be more variants to come.

“Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants,” he said.