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These are the 10 countries where the coronavirus death rate is increasing rapidly

Published Sep 8th, 2020 5:50PM EDT
Coronavirus News Deaths
Image: Viesturs/Adobe

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  • While the United States has seen nearly 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths, the country currently experiencing the highest rate of coronavirus deaths is Kosovo.
  • During the last week of August, Kosovo saw 54.2 corona-related deaths per 1 million people.
  • Other countries with a high coronavirus death rate include Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru.

The coronavirus over the past few months has ravaged nearly every country across the globe. And while some countries, like Italy for instance, have been able to put the virus in the rearview mirror, other countries are just now experiencing a huge spike in new coronavirus infections and accompanying deaths.

Recently, Bloomberg compiled a list which highlights which countries are currently experiencing a surge in virus fatalities relative to population size. The data used for the list looked at the cumulative number of corona-related deaths per one million people over a seven day period during the last week of August.

All told, the 10 most dangerous countries in the world with respect to coronavirus infections and deaths reads as follows:

  1. Kosovo – 54.2 deaths per 1 million people
  2. Colombia – 50.4 deaths per 1 million people
  3. Bolivia – 42.1 deaths per 1 million people
  4. Peru – 40.9 deaths per 1 million people
  5. Argentina – 33.1 deaths per 1 million people
  6. Brazil – 31.1 deaths per 1 million people
  7. Romania – 30.1 deaths per 1 million people
  8. Mexico – 28.3 deaths per 1 million people
  9. Panama – 24.5 deaths per 1 million people
  10. Chile – 21.2 deaths per 1 million people

As to the reason why Kosovo has seen such a surge in deaths — which is all the more notable given its relatively young population — Bloomberg relays that it’s a combination of the country lacking adequate resources to treat patients and, generally speaking, not taking the virus as seriously as it should have from the very beginning:

There are several reasons behind the trends. Since breaking away from Serbia following a bloody war, Kosovo remains one of Europe’s poorest states, reliant on remittances from citizens who’ve left for more affluent parts of the continent. Corruption, meanwhile, has held back the development of the health system.

Politics, however, appears to have been the major contributing factor — as it has in many parts of the globe where responses to the virus have proved lacking.

The government in Kosovo has since enacted stricter rules to prevent the coronavirus from spreading and some experts believe the country has hit a ceiling with respect to its coronavirus death rate.

Of course, it goes without saying that the conversation shifts completely once we start talking about which countries have seen more deaths in total. In that respect, the list of countries that have experienced the most COVID-19 deaths includes the United States followed by Brazil, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Peru, and Spain. To date, the U.S. has seen approximately 190,000 coronavirus-related deaths, and given the current trend of new infections and deaths, we’ll likely hit the 200,000 threshold sooner rather than later.

To this point, Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said that the current rate of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. is “disturbing.” Fauci has said time and time again that the daily number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. needs to dip below 10,000 before fall arrives. Currently, the rate of new cases across the country is around 38,000.

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.