Monday, 10 January 2022

Going down

The story today seems to be a gentle decline in the worldwide daily tally of plague deaths, down to around 6,000 from the first peak of around 7,000, getting on for two years ago now.

With the European Union, the rest of Europe and the US accounting for around a quarter of the total each, with the rest of the world accounting for the last quarter. With our high density of population and our propensity to mix (in clubs, bars and restaurants) seeming to trump our superior medical arrangements.

The FT did not bother to respond to my query about where Russia lived in this graphic, plus I don't know anything about the quality of any figures that might be coming from there.

With the big unknown for me being whether China will be able to hold to its eradication line. A line we managed to hold with the foot and mouth epidemic back in 2001 - at the cost of slaughtering around 6m sheep and cows - an option not available in the present case. Furthermore, China is not a small island, although I dare say a good proportion of its international passengers arrive by air, just like here. Fortunately, unlike sheep and cows, most people will stay indoors if you tell them firmly enough.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/12/holding-steady.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_United_Kingdom_foot-and-mouth_outbreak.

Group search key: FT, graphic.

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