Page 1 - aruba-today-20220307

Test today, fly
Monday tomorrow during
March 7, 2022 the holidays
T: 582-7800
www.arubatoday.com
facebook.com/arubatoday
instagram.com/arubatoday
Page 8
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
A r u b a ’ s O N L Y E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r
Death toll nears 6 million as pandemic enters its 3rd year

By DAVID RISING by the highly contagious
Associated Press omicron variant.
BANGKOK (AP) — The offi- Hong Kong, which is seeing
cial global death toll from deaths soar, is testing its en-
COVID-19 is on the verge of tire population of 7.5 million
eclipsing 6 million — under- three times this month as it
scoring that the pandemic, clings to mainland China’s
now entering its third year, “zero-COVID” strategy.
is far from over. As death rates remain high
The milestone is the lat- in Poland, Hungary, Roma-
est tragic reminder of the nia and other Eastern Euro-
unrelenting nature of the pean countries, the region
pandemic even as people has seen more than 1 mil-
are shedding masks, travel lion refugees arrive from
is resuming and businesses war-torn Ukraine, a country
are reopening around the with poor vaccination cov-
globe. The death toll, com- erage and high rates of
piled by Johns Hopkins Uni- cases and deaths.
versity, stood at 5,997,994 And despite its wealth and
as of Sunday afternoon. vaccine availability, the
Remote Pacific islands, United States is nearing 1
whose isolation had pro- million reported deaths on
tected them for more than its own. Nurses perform timed breathing exercises on a COVID-19 patient on a ventilator in the COVID-19
two years, are just now intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
grappling with their first out- Associated Press
breaks and deaths, fueled Continued on Page 2