Under the title "Coronavirus Killed 150,000 Arabs and Infected 9.6 Million," Al Arabiya reported that during these last ten days of December, the novel coronavirus, along with its mutations and variants, is marking its second birthday in China by claiming the lives of over 150,000 people across 19 Arab countries and infecting more than 9.6 million people in the region. This data was compiled in a table prepared by Al Arabiya, which drew its figures from worldometer, based in the United States, that tracks global coronavirus activity minute by minute, similarly to the numbers published by Johns Hopkins University.
The displayed table indicates that Tunisia has suffered the highest number of deaths in the ongoing battle against the virus for 780 days, followed by Iraq, which has the highest number of infections. Jordan is reported to be the country facing the most critical hospital cases, totaling 2,044 across the Arab world, excluding four countries—Libya, the UAE, Syria, and Sudan—that are free from such cases. The number of patients with mild complications stands at 257,737 in 19 Arab countries, with the highest figures in Algeria, followed by Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt.
The "coronavirus tsunami" in the Arab world resulted in the deaths of 6,232 out of 425,000 infections reported in the region one year after its emergence in China, according to a report by Al Arabiya during this time last December. This year alone, the virus has claimed over 143,000 Arab lives, equating to 23 times the number of victims from the previous year.
One of the puzzling aspects related to the death toll and infection rates in various regions and countries worldwide is the situation in China, which has more than 1.44 billion residents. Although the virus originated in one of its cities, it recorded only 100,386 infections, equating to 70 cases per million, with 94,014 recoveries and 1,736 patients experiencing mild symptoms, along with just five critical cases in hospitals, as reported by worldometer this Tuesday. The total number of deaths in China is recorded at 4,636 over two years, or three per million, making it one of the countries that hardly feels the presence of the virus, with a situation better than any Arab country or others, and the reasons for this remain unexplained.
