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Today we reflect on Covid-19 deaths again.

Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Jill Biden remember the 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19. Photo by Evan Vucci AP.
Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Jill Biden remember the 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19. Photo by Evan Vucci AP.

Today, January 21, Worldometers says there have been 2,080,154 deaths from Covid-19, out of 97,218,195 infections.

This as the new President of the USA, Joe Biden, on the eve of his inauguration grieved the 400,000 Covid-19 deaths in his country, saying: “To heal, we must remember.”

“‘It’s hard sometimes to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation,’ Biden said in brief remarks before 400 lights were illuminated along the edges of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, marking the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19,” CNN reports.

In South America the shortage of oxygen is exposing the supply issues causing havoc in countries afflicted. Peruvian medical suppliers have warned that the Peruvian healthcare system “is on the verge of collapse, as demand for oxygen supplies has skyrocketed by 300 per cent,” according to The Brazilian Report.

This reveals not a problem with science but with human organisation – politics. It comes as harsh judgements continue about Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic in his country.  The Brazilian Report notes that as the vaccination program started in his country his main priority was to tweet about the opening of a highway flyover.

Brazil also has a new extremely virulent variant of the coronavirus now circulating in the Amazon region, which will have tragic consequences for the already fragile cultures living there.

The UK has passed a new milestone, with 93,290 deaths now recorded from a total of 3,505,117 cases. It reported 1,820 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, 20 January, 2021, a new record daily high for that country.

The World Health Organisation points out that: “the world faces a “catastrophic moral failure” because of unequal Covid-19 vaccine policies.

“Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states. He said over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states – but one poor nation had only 25 doses,” the BBC says.

But significantly, he says this short-sighted approach will keep the pandemic going.

“Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering,” the BBC reports him saying.

Meanwhile, Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister is co-chairing a World Health Organisation inquiry into the global response to the pandemic. She says this will show where the gaps were in timeliness in the alert and response system when the pandemic started and what’s needed to fix this system.

“We’re in the 21st century. A virus doesn’t take months and years to spread. It’s on the next plane. Timeliness, being able to respond very, very quickly is critical and processes shouldn’t stand in the way of that,” she told Laura Tingle on the ABC’s 7.30  Report last night.

On a completely unrelated note, this is a special anniversary for Claire and her family.

Claire wrote this prayer and said it at her father’s funeral, all those years ago.

I prayed for sunshine, God gave me rain.
I prayed for happiness, God gave me pain.
I prayed for peace, God gave me fire.
I prayed for rest, God made me tire.
When the day was gone and through,
God said to me, 'Child, I love you.'
I asked him why, if that's the case
Why did he throw all this in my face?
Then God said, life's all about living,
Respecting others, loving and giving.
'I did all this to let you know,
Just how much I love you so.'
Life’s about seeing sun in the rain,
Finding love when you’re in pain.
Finding peace in the line of fire,
Laying down after we tire.
All these things that have come along,
Have been placed here to make you strong.
When in life it's time to go,
We realise then and then we know,
That heaven is the rainbow after the rain,
And God gives us love after our pain.
He gives us peace at the journey’s end,
And lays us down so we can mend.

To keep updated on coronavirus infections and deaths worldwide, including the USA, Brazil and the UK, go to:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

To find out more about what newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden said at the commemoration just before he was sworn into office, go to:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/biden-covid-victims-memorial/index.html

To find out more about what’s happening in Brazil, go to:

https://brazilian.report/coronavirus-brazil-live-blog/

For the BBC’s report on WHO warnings on the moral hazard of unequal vaccine distribution:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-55709428

And Helen Clark says we can improve our pandemic readiness by xxxx.

https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/helen-clark-discusses-who-inquiry-into-the-global/13076008

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