#Pandemic slows… very slightly

The coronavirus pandemic slowed very slightly over the past week, but is still rampaging in Africa and with a particular spike in Britain which has seen a new strain emerge.

Here is the state of play according to a specialised AFP database.

Slows slightly

The pandemic very slightly slowed down this week at a world level, with 638,892 new cases registered per day, a drop of just 0.5 percent compared to the previous week, according to an AFP tally on Friday at 1100 GMT.

In Africa the epidemic is still on the march, with the number of cases growing by 16 percent or 20,341 extra infections per day.

Latin America and the Caribbean have also seen a pickup with nine percent more, or 88,985 extra cases per day.

Europe again suffered the most new infections this week with 247,838 a day, a progression of two percent.

However, the epidemic slowed by five percent in the United States and Canada which nevertheless had a high level of new cases, at 217,878 per day.

The pandemic continues to wane in the Middle East with five percent fewer cases, and Asia minus 10 percent.

Infections have surged in Oceania but there are nevertheless few cases of the virus there, with 37 per day.

The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, as different countries have different counting practices and levels of testing.

Biggest spikes

Britain, with its new variant, is the country in which the virus is advancing most, with 61 percent more or 33,753 new cases per day, among the countries which have registered more than 1,000 daily cases over the past week.

Israel follows with 60 percent more, or 3,063 cases, then the Netherlands (41 percent more or 11,729 cases), the Czech Republic (40 percent, 7,452 cases) and Colombia (37 percent or 12,604 cases).

Biggest falls

The biggest fall in is Pakistan with 35 percent fewer, or 2,042 new daily cases, before Bulgaria (-35 percent, 1,426 cases), Hungary (-32 percent, 2,814 cases), Georgia (-31 percent 2,355 cases) and Austria (-29 percent, 1,965 cases).

US has most cases…

The United States recorded by far the biggest number of new infections this week with 183,863 new daily cases (-19.4 percent), before India on 11.6 percent less.

…And deaths too

The United States also registered the most deaths over the past week with an average of 2,637 per day, before Brazil (783), Mexico (648) in a tie with Germany and Russia (556).

Global toll

The pandemic has left at least 1.73 million people dead in the world since late December 2019, out of more than 78 million confirmed cases.

The United States has mourned the greatest toll with 326,232 dead, before Brazil with 189,220 and India at 146,756.

© 2020 AFP