Asia drives new pandemic surge

The Covid-19 pandemic took a turn for the worse this week after five weeks of improvement, driven by an upsurge of cases in Asia.

Here is the state of play based on AFP’s database:

8% rise

The average number of global daily cases increased over the week by 8% to 1.59 million, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.

That is, however, half the number in late January, when cases peaked at 3.37 million per day.

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

Asia, Oceania drive upsurge

Asia and Oceania remain pandemic hotspots, with 27% and 20% more new cases respectively compared to the previous week.

There was also a slight uptick in Africa, which saw a 3% rise, and in Europe where the number of cases increased by 1%.

The situation, however, continued to improve in the US-Canada zone which recorded a 30% drop, in the Middle East (down 27%), and the Latin America-Caribbean zone (down 12%).

Main spikes

The Netherlands recorded the biggest increase in new cases this week, with an 80% spike.

Vietnam followed with 63% more, South Korea (55% more), Portugal (up 35%) and Ecuador (up 28%).

South Korea has most cases

South Korea again recorded the biggest number of new cases this week, with an average of 264,000 per day, an increase of 55%.

It also recorded the highest rate on a per capita basis, with 3,605 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Vietnam, with 196,400 daily cases, saw an increase of 63%, while Germany came third with 177,200 cases, an increase of 15%.

Cases rocketed by 80% in the Netherlands to an average of 62,800 a day.

By head of the populaton, South Korea was followed by Hong Kong with 3,002 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and New Zealand with 2,934.

Main drops

The main falls were in Georgia, where the number of new cases decreased 64%. Belarus followed with 56% fewer cases and Turkey (down 44%), Lebanon (down 43%) and Norway (down 41%).

Deaths continue to decline

The number of Covid-linked deaths continues to decline around the world, shrinking 12% to an average of 6,700 per day.

The US again mourned the most deaths, with an average of 1,165 a day, followed by Russia (700) and Brazil (501).

Hong Kong reported by far the highest death rate in proportion to population (23.8 per 100,000 inhabitants), followed at a distance by Lithuania (6.0) and Denmark (5.5).