PARIS, France (AFP) — The Covid-19 pandemic continued to pick up speed this week in Europe, bucking an improvement observed in the rest of the world.
Here is the global state of play based on an AFP database.
– Slight global spike –
The number of new daily cases increased globally for a third week in a row, by a slight one percent to 438,000 infections, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.
However, the confirmed cases only reflect a fraction of the actual number of infections, with varying accounting practices and levels of testing in different countries.
– Deterioration in Europe –
The global increase was largely down to Europe, which saw a seven percent spike in the number of new recorded daily cases over the week.
The situation has been worsening on the continent for nearly two months.
Most of the countries which suffered spikes over the week were in Europe: cases in Austria increased by 66 percent, in the Czech Republic by 56 percent, Greece (54 percent) and Poland (45 percent). The only non-European country in the top five was Vietnam, where cases also increased by 45 percent.
– Improvement everywhere else –
Outside Europe the situation continued to improve in all other regions of the world.
The number of new daily cases dropped by 26 percent in Oceania, by 18 percent in the Latin America and Caribbean zone, by 13 percent in Africa, by six percent in Asia, three percent in the United States and Canada and by two percent in the Middle East.
On a country level Cuba enjoyed the biggest drop in cases, with 44 percent less, followed by Guatemala (37 percent less), Syria (32 percent less), Australia and the Philippines (29 percent less each).
– US most infections –
The US remained by far the country with the biggest number of new cases — 73,500 per day — a decrease of two percent. It was followed by Russia (40,200 cases, an increase of eight percent) and the United Kingdom (38,900, a decrease of eight percent).
On a per capita basis the countries that recorded the most new cases this week were Estonia with 955 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Slovenia with 841, and Latvia 804.
– Russia most deaths –
Russia recorded the biggest number of deaths with 1,171 per day, just overtaking the United States which saw 1,169 fatalities. Third on the grim podium was Ukraine with 563.
At a global level there was a three percent drop in the number of daily deaths, to 7,131.
But this trend was influenced by last week’s upward revision by India of its toll.
– Vaccinations –
Iran led the vaccination race this week, giving shots to 1.24 percent of its population every day, among countries with more than one million inhabitants.
Vietnam came next with 1.14 percent, Taiwan (1.08 percent), and Thailand (1.02 percent)
The leaders in the vaccination race are all in Latin America, Asia and Oceania, which have over the past few months been catching up with the vaccination champions in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates remains the most vaccinated country in the world, with 88 percent of its population completely jabbed, and Portugal hot on its heels with 86 percent.
© Agence France-Presse