Covid-19: Europe surges again this week

The number of people infected by the novel coronavirus continued to surge in Europe over the past week, while also increasing in Africa and America and abating in Asia.

A weekly roundup from AFP’s specialised database:

Explosion in Europe

The pandemic continued to rampage over the past week across the world with an average of 396,463 new daily cases, or 16 percent more than the previous seven-day period, according to an AFP tally on Friday at 1100 GMT.

However, it is in Europe that the acceleration is most marked, with a huge 42 percent increase.

Europe recorded 171,257 new cases a day, against 121,227 the previous week.

Of the continent’s 53 countries, 30 recorded their greatest number of weekly cases over the October 16-22 period.

The number of infections also increased in Africa and North America, by 12 percent each, as well as in Latin America (eight percent more).

It is going more slowly in Oceania, which has been largely spared the pandemic, with five percent more cases and the Middle East four percent more.

It is good news for Asia, where the number of infections has decreased for a second consecutive week, by 12 percent.

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 increases

Of the countries which have registered more than 1,000 daily cases over the past week, Switzerland is the place where the pandemic is most on the prowl, with a 106 percent increase, or 3,656 cases per day.

Croatia also shows 106 percent more with 1,045 cases,ahead of  Georgia (98 percent, 1,195 cases), Armenia (96 percent, 1,549) and Italy (95 percent, 12,018).

Biggest drops

Israel, which recently emerged from a nationwide lockdown, has enjoyed the biggest decrease in infections, with a 39 percent drop (1,296 daily cases).

Libya also dropped by 17 percent (849 daily cases), India (-15 percent, 57,121 cases), Myanmar (-13 percent, 1,237) and Costa Rica (-10 percent, 1,066).

Most infections

By country, the United States has recorded the greatest number of new infections this week, with an average of 60,741 per day, ahead of India (57,121) and France (27,051).

While the number of infections is on the decline in India (-15 percent), it is getting worse in France (37 percent more) and the United States (13 percent).

Brazil comes next with 22,035 cases or nine percent more, Britain (19,549 cases, 22 percent), Russia (15,592, 16 percent) and Spain (14,987, 44 percent).

Deaths

India continues to mourn the most deaths with 764 per day, which is seven percent less than the previous week. The United States comes next with 752, or four percent more deaths, Brazil (491, -2 percent), Argentina (376, -1 percent) and Mexico (372, 19 percent).

Global toll

The pandemic has left at least 1,130,000 dead since it emerged in China late last year, out of more than 41.7 million confirmed infections.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 223,059 deaths, followed by Brazil with 155,900, India with 117,306, Mexico with 87,894 and Britain with 44,347.