Pandemic slows around the world

The coronavirus pandemic slowed for a seventh week in a row around the world.

Here is the global state of play based on an AFP database.

In decline

The number of new daily cases decreased by 5% globally to 403,300, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.

The pandemic had gained ground since mid-June fanned by the highly contagious Delta variant, but since late August it has been in decline.

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

Europe bucks trend

This week saw an improvement in most regions of the world, with 23% fewer cases in Africa, 21% fewer in Latin America and the Caribbean, 19% fewer in the Middle East, 16% fewer in Asia and 14% fewer in the US and Canada region.

Europe, however, bucked the trend with a 13% rise, while the number of cases increased by 11% in Oceania.

Biggest spikes

Georgia, where only 27% of the population has received one vaccine dose, saw the biggest spike in the number of new cases, with a 79% increase.

Beyond the Caucasus, the week’s biggest increases took place in Europe, with cases rising by half in Ireland, and 49% in the Netherlands, where more than 66% of the population has already received two vaccine doses. Cases increased by 42% in Poland and Latvia.

Biggest drops

At the other end of the spectrum, Israel saw the biggest drop with a 48% decrease in the number of cases, followed by Cuba (32% fewer), Guatemala (31% down), Costa Rica (29% down) and Vietnam, where cases were down by a quarter.

US has most infections…

The US remained by far the country with the biggest number of new cases, with 86,800 per day, a decrease of 14%. It was followed by the UK with 38,700, a 13% increase, and Turkey 30,500, an increase of 5%.

On a per capita basis the country that recorded the most new cases this week was Latvia with 623 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, before Serbia (598) and Georgia (585).

… and most deaths

The US also recorded the biggest number of deaths per day at 1,563, followed by Russia with 967, and Mexico 350.

At a global level the number of daily deaths continued to fall to 6,741, a drop of 6%.

Vaccinations

Cuba leads the vaccination race among countries with more than one million inhabitants, inoculating 1.92% of its population every day.

Iran followed with 1.57%, New Zealand with 1.46%, Lebanon (1.24%), South Korea (1.22%) and Vietnam (1.20%).

The United Arab Emirates and Portugal have the most advanced vaccination drives, having fully vaccinated 86% and 85% respectively of their populations. Spain and Singapore follow on 78% each.