Covid cases on the rise as North America leads uptick

North America led an uptick in cases of Covid-19 around the world this week, recording the most new cases and deaths.

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

Cases on the up

The number of new daily cases around the world increased by 2% to 656,800, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.

The pandemic has gained ground since mid-June fanned by the highly contagious Delta variant which has become predominant in most countries.

The confirmed cases only reflect a fraction of the actual number of infections, with varying counting practices and levels of testing in different countries.

Flare-up in North America

This week the situation continued to worsen in the US and Canada, which saw a 12% increase in new daily cases. The situation also deteriorated in Oceania where cases increased by 20%.

The number of new cases increased by 4% in Europe but was unchanged in Africa, with a 1% decrease in Asia and a 7% decrease in the Middle East.

Biggest spike

On a country basis, Ethiopia saw the biggest increase, with 62% more cases. Germany followed with a 50% increase, while Serbia had 49% more, Sri Lanka 41% more and Bulgaria 35% more.

Biggest drops

Indonesia saw the biggest drop in the number of cases, with a 27% plunge, followed by Morocco with -26%, Botswana -24%, Libya -24% and Nepal -23%.

US bears the brunt

The US remained by far the country with the most new cases with 155,300 on average every day, an increase of 12%. Iran followed with 35,100, a decrease of 8% and the UK 33,800, an increase of 11%.

On a per capita basis the country that recorded the most new cases this week was Kosovo with 783 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Georgia with 774, and Montenegro 699.

US most deaths

The US mourned the most deaths with 1,192 per day this week, followed by Indonesia (1,078) and Russia (792).

At a global level the number of daily deaths increased by 3% to 10,069.

Vaccinations

Panama led the vaccination race this week, among countries with more than one million inhabitants, jabbing 1.58% of its population each day.

South Korea followed with 1.56%, New Zealand 1.40%, Malaysia 1.39%, Ecuador 1.32%, Israel 1.16% – mainly booster shots – Norway 1.14%, Australia 1.06%, Salvador 1.06% and Japan 0.99%.

While they are vaccinating more slowly, among the countries with the most advanced vaccination drives are the United Arab Emirates with 181 first and second doses administered per 100 inhabitants, Israel (153), Singapore (147), Denmark (145), Chile (141), Canada (140), Portugal (140) and China (139).