The COVID-19 pandemic had already fixed at midnight on 22 May 2020 the following main data on victims worldwide in the statistics of both the Worldometers service and the Johns Hopkins Institute: the month 340.040, the infected 5.306.155, cured 2.160.039, death for every 1 million inhabitants 43.6. These numbers reflect the human damage caused by the new coronavirus in its first four months, as statistics gather from January 22, when 17 people died, all of them in China. Unfortunately, the SARS-CoV-2 virus still has a long way to go and it is said that in South America it now has its epicenter, which is supposed to do a great killing in Africa... If so, it will be seen from now on. However, the picture of what has happened so far leaves no doubt: the rich countries are the ones most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knowing that each of the four main chapters of the statistics could be discussed (how each country has accounted for the deaths, how many official contagions are hidden because they have not performed enough tests, who is considered healthy in one or the other...), it is the one that generates the least doubt in the number of deaths. As far as statistics are concerned, Europe and North America are the main dominant ones.

Of the 340,040 deaths recorded in the world until 22 May, 168,419 are in Europe, half of the total deaths, and 111,630 in North America. Between the two, a total of 280,000 people. The rest is distributed as follows: In South America 29,361 people have died, in Asia (including China) 26,674, in Africa 3,204 and in Oceania 122.

But it is worth looking more closely at what has happened on each continent, especially Europe and North America. Of the 168,419 people who have died in Europe, the majority have died in the richest countries, 153,203 distributed as follows: United Kingdom 36.393, Italy 32.616, France 28.628, Spain 28.289, Belgium 9.212, Germany 8.352, Netherlands 5.788 and Sweden 3.925. They are the following Europeans or smaller or, above all, less wealthy countries: So far, Russia itself had recorded only 3,249 deaths, compared with 22 per million inhabitants.

The countries with the highest number of victims per million inhabitants, among those around the world, are also Europeans: Belgium 795, Spain 612, Italy 539, United Kingdom 536, France 433, Sweden 389, Netherlands 338, Ireland 323... In the world ranking, the United States follows them with 295 deaths per million, and the United States with 295.

As has been said, there have been 111,630 deaths in North America, of which 97,647 are in the United States, most of them. It is followed by Mexico (6,510), Canada (6,250) and much less the rest of the continent, including Cuba with 81 deaths (7 per million inhabitants).

Many sources point out that COVID-19 still needs to wreak havoc among poor countries. Time will show it. So far, it seems that the countries most affected are the richest in the North and the richest in the West. Among Basques: until 22 May, 2,005 deaths and 630 per million inhabitants. There will be epidemiologists, sociologists and other experts who will tell us what has happened to us.