The infection has exploded around the world. Now the death toll is also increasing.

Last week, the global death toll surpassed 7,000 for four days in a row. Since April, the numbers hadn’t been this high for that long. But that does not mean that the situation remains as critical as in March.

The corona pandemic has regained momentum around the world in recent weeks. Several countries have stepped up restrictions in line with the increase in infection.

Now it seems that the number of deaths is also increasing.

Last week, the number topped 7,000 for four days in a row:

Throughout the pandemic, the death toll has varied greatly from day to day. The biggest gap was in August. The number then surpassed 10,000 one day, before dropping to just over 5,000 the next day.

However, last week’s figures stand out. Since April, the daily new deaths had not been this high for several days.

The United States, Brazil, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom top the list of countries with the most deaths. The latter will now be closed again starting Thursday. This was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this weekend.

The reason is the fear that the country’s hospital will be overwhelmed by coronary heart disease in the coming weeks.

Several survive

“If we do nothing, we could see a death toll in this country of several thousand a day,” Johnson said at a news conference Saturday.

Britain is far from the only country now taking steps to toughen up. Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, and Spain have also introduced new strict restrictions as a result of the recent increase in infection.

But even though last week’s death toll is approaching this spring’s numbers, this does not mean that more people are dying from the virus now than before. The number of new cases of infection registered was much higher last week than this spring.

Before the summer, the number of daily infections worldwide was just under 100,000. In the last two weeks, there have been more than 300,000 daily:

This means that more coronary heart disease patients now survive than before.

It also shows NPR research. One of the reasons may be that we have improved in treating those who get sick.

At the same time, there is great concern that the death toll will catch up with infections. This can happen if the number of admissions exceeds the capacity of the hospitals.

It can get worse

– Europe is now experiencing a new wave of this pandemic. It could be worse than the first in March and April, writes Preben Aavitsland, chief physician at the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), in an email to Aftenposten.

It indicates that the earth rapidly enters a negative spiral once the ascent has begun. More and more sources of infection can cause massive incidents of infection. This, in turn, can make it difficult for infection tracking teams to keep up.

– In August and September, the picture was dominated by cases among young and middle-aged adults. Now the epidemic is in full swing among the elderly. Now we see that the number of hospital admissions is increasing rapidly, and then the deaths will also come soon. This virus is as dangerous as it was in March, Aavitsland continues.

The superior emphasizes that Norway is currently in control, but that there is concern for the Oslo and Bergen area.

– Municipalities across the country are very good at detecting and cracking down on local outbreaks, so we are still some distance from the situation we see on the continent. The goal is to keep it that way.

At the same time, he notes that the season we are now entering may play a role in increasing infection:

– The epidemic is spreading rapidly now, especially in the northern hemisphere. It may have something to do with the season. Most respiratory infections thrive in cold climates, he says.

More real numbers than before

Ørjan Olsvik agrees that the pandemic is growing and is a professor of medical microbiology at the Norwegian University of the Arctic (UiT).

– There is no doubt that more and more people are getting infected. There is almost exponential growth in many countries, he says.

Olsvik believes that the numbers of where the infection occurs have become more real than before. In March, almost only the seriously ill were tested and not the mildly ill. Therefore, the death rate seemed high, Olsvik notes. He believes that reports that the death toll has dropped dramatically since March should be read from that picture.

– There is no doubt that an increase in the infection rate is now taking place. Then there have been discussions about whether the virus has changed and whether the infection has increased. I don’t think that’s where it is.

He believes that infection in countries like Norway has increased because more society has opened since March. As a result, more infections have arrived from other countries. It was also necessary to open up a bit, both for the economy and for people’s mental health. But it also has a side effect, you think.

– The interesting thing is that the number of corona infections now seems to be growing in many countries at the same time, he says.