Europe exceeded 3 million registered infections on Thursday 23 July, and Latin America crossed the 4 million barrier, half of them in Brazil, where the pandemic is getting out of control; in 24 hours almost 68,000 new cases were recorded.
In total, the new
coronavirus has killed at least 627,000 people since it emerged late last year in China, and has caused more than 15 million infections worldwide.
These official figures are a daily slap, but government leaders and citizens are aware that the actual numbers of infections and deaths are undoubtedly even higher.
The compulsory use of face masks, the movement restrictions re-imposed in the face of outbreaks, the progress towards an effective
vaccine or treatment, the more or less encouraging forecasts and, as a backdrop, the balances that continue to worsen, have become the day to day of the planet.
The pandemic is now spreading at a rate of more than 1.5 million new cases per week, especially in developing countries where seven out of 10 workers live thanks to informal markets and cannot earn money if they stay at home, according to the UN.
Added to them is the economic impact of the pandemic, which has plunged much of the world into recession and is causing bankruptcies, unemployment and a worrying increase in poverty.
The UN considered this Thursday that it is "urgent" to give a temporary minimum income to the world's poorest to stop the effects of the pandemic.
According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), about $199 billion per month could provide a guaranteed minimum income for six months to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the threshold of poverty in 132 developing countries.