THE PATTERN OF COVID-19 DISTRIBUTION AMONG CONTINENTS: AN EXAMINATION AFTER THIRTY-FOUR MONTHS.

ABSTRACT

It has been more than 34 months since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 that causes the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. However, understanding of COVID-19 is still evolving, and COVID-19 statistics are dynamic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pattern of distribution of COVID-19 in the six continents by the end of October 2022 and compare it to the end of 2020 and 2021. Online data of distribution was successfully recruited from the "Worldometer" website. By the end of October 2022, nearly 6.8 billion COVID-19 tests have been performed, resulting in around 636 million cases detected, while about 6.6 million deaths were registered. The year 2021 was worse than 2020, while the first 10 months of 2022 witnessed the largest number of detected cases (55% of all cases recorded). The distribution of deaths and cases has not been consistent between continents. The number of cases/deaths is proportional to the number of tests performed. The largest share of tests was carried out in Europe (41%), while fewer tests were conducted in Africa (1.6%), and therefore, fewer cases and deaths were recorded. In conclusion, between countries, as well as across continents, the number of COVID-19 cases/deaths/tests and the case-fatality rate vary significantly, and over time, which suggest considerable uncertainty over the exact COVID-19 statistics worldwide. The definition of suspected cases should be clear, appropriate, and internationally standardized. Only when an international standard is agreed upon will we be able to make fair comparisons.