Poor diet, pollution and other sources of chronic disease on the rise over the past 30 years, plus a new virus: the conditions for a "storm" were met to lead to the million deaths of Covid-19, deplores a report published Friday by the magazine The Lancet. For the magazine, the world is facing not only a pandemic, but a "syndemic", that is to say the conjunction of several health emergencies.

"The interaction of Covid-19 with the continued global rise over the past 30 years of chronic diseases and their risk factors, including obesity, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and air pollution, has created the conditions for a storm, fuelling the Covid-19 death toll," the prestigious British medical journal said in a statement.

"Non-communicable diseases have played a critical role in the one million deaths caused by Covid-19 to date, and will continue to determine the overall health status in every country even after the pandemic has subsided," comments editor-in-chief Richard Horton...