The COVID-19 pandemic has been the largest infectious disease epidemic to affect the human race since the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19 and is close to approaching the number of deaths from the earlier epidemic. The data on COVID-19 shows that the rate of clinical cases is about 10% greater in females than males in Asia. The number of deaths is greater in males than in females. Women are more likely to experience the psychological effects of COVID-19 during and after acute infections.
1. Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the largest infectious disease epidemic to affect the human race since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19. Estimates of the number of deaths in the influenza epidemic range as high as 100 million, but a figure of 50 million is more probable
[1]. As of November 2022, the number of global deaths due to COVID-19 that have been recorded is 6.6 million
[2].
The deaths reported to WHO are very likely to be underestimated, as many cases of COVID-19-related deaths go unreported and this can be assessed by monitoring excess mortality. In the pandemic up to the end of 2021 WHO had recorded 5.4 million deaths and estimated that excess mortality during this period accounted for a further 9.5 million deaths. This brings the total number of deaths associated with COVID-19 to 14.9 million
[3]. Extrapolating the data to November 2022 suggests that the true number of deaths is likely to be closer to 18.1 million. The advent of vaccinations against COVID-19 is estimated to have averted approximately 20 million deaths by the end of 2021
[4]. If the actual number of deaths and the number of deaths averted are considered together, the total is comparable to the Great Influenza Epidemic. When the experience of 2022 is included, COVID-19 may be the greatest epidemic of all time. The WHO estimates for excess mortality in the South East Asia and Western Pacific regions were 5.99 (40.2% of global excess mortality) and 0.12 million, respectively
[3].
The pre-COVID-19 world was one in which gender equality was not yet the norm. Inequality has been worsened by the pandemic. Discriminatory patterns exist in terms of access to, ownership and control of productive resources Relative income poverty, physical vulnerability, and lack of fully equitable and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making processes have worsened. This is particularly the case for minority groups and indigenous women in Asia
[5].
2. COVID-19 Cases and Deaths
Data on the incidence of COVID-19 have been collected by national public health ministries and organisations and have been consolidated by the World Health Organisation and other independent programs. The WHO uses the term ‘confirmed cases’ (see above), and as of the end of October 2022, it has recorded 627 million cases and 6.6 million deaths
[2]. Results that are almost identical are reported by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
[16][6]. Totals are regularly updated, but COVID-19 gender data are incomplete.
COVID-19 data disaggregated by gender are provided by the Sex and Gender COVID-19 Project a partnership of Global Health 50/50, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
[17][7]. However, gender-disaggregated data are difficult to interpret due to the lag in data reporting and the lack of gender information in most of the data. The available data are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1.
COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Gender ASIA (Selected Countries).