By Sophie Soloway ’23
Global Editor
As of Tuesday, Feb. 9, at least 2.3 million people worldwide have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. Global cases are currently rising at the fastest rate yet.
The United States has the most cases globally at over 27 million. India (with approximately 10.8 million total cases) and Brazil (with about 9.5 million) have the second and third highest totals, respectively. However, cases continue to fluctuate across the globe.
Cases in Montenegro have spiked in the past week, and now the country has the highest daily average cases per capita with 85 cases per 100,000 citizens. The Turks and Caicos Islands and Israel fall shortly behind with 72 and 71 cases per 100,00 citizens, respectively. To combat these high statistics, Israel is currently pursuing mass vaccination distribution, leading globally with approximately 23.4 percent of the country already fully vaccinated.
However, this high vaccination rate has not yet reached occupied Palestine. Human Rights Watch reports that Israel has dodged Geneva Convention responsibilities to distribute medical supplies, leaving the Palestinian people with few resources to combat COVID-19. There are currently over 163,000 total cases in Palestine.
On the other end of the spectrum, countries such as Mainland China, New Zealand and Australia have continued to report some of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates, each with less than one case per 100,000 citizens.