Covid-19 at the top of death stats | Aftonbladet



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Burial of a Belgian citizen who died in the covid-19 suites. Stock Photography.

Photo: Francisco Seco / TT

Burial of a Belgian citizen who died in the covid-19 suites. Stock Photography.

Covid-19 has quickly become one of the most common causes of death in the world this year. But the death rate from the virus cannot be compared to previous pandemics, says historian Dick Harrison.

Since the beginning of January, the crown pandemic has had at least 250,000 deaths worldwide, probably much more, since most countries only have confirmed diseases and confirmed deaths in hospitals. This means that in a short time the new virus has become one of the most common causes of death in 2020, writes The Economist.

During one of the most difficult weeks in April, around 50,000 people died on covid-19. It places the disease on the fifth list of causes of death, just above dementia and slightly above malaria, killing about 12,000 people per week, according to figures from the 2017 Global Burden of Disease study, conducted by the IHME ( Institute of Metrics and Health Assessment).

The distance is still a long way from the most common causes of death: cardiovascular disease, cancer, and malnutrition, causing around 340,000, 190,000, and 126,000 deaths each week.

Can’t compare

Covid-19 is classified as a pandemic. Among its predecessors of the 20th century are the Spanish disease (more than 50 million dead), the Asian disease (about five million dead) and the Hong Kong flu (approximately one million dead in the first year).

Dick Harrison, professor of history at Lund University, says that it is not possible to resemble covid-19 with these three pandemics.

– Today, the state is acting much more aggressively, decisively and intelligently, he says.

– The type of isolation strategies that begins immediately today is unparalleled. So you can’t compare death rates, because there are fewer people dying now than they would have otherwise. It is not because the state is powerful, but because it has information channels.

Take lessons

According to Dick Harrison, since the Middle Ages, people have not wanted to remember pandemics.

– He does not believe, for example, that we should have the potential to produce vaccines quickly, when it reaches the national level, or that we should have stocks of rations, he says and continues:

– We are not building for this to come back, and this is a mistake you have made all along. It is a lesson that hopefully one could take now.

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