PANDEMIC SURGES IN AFRICA

The number of new cases has been on the increase since mid-May in Africa, which over the past week saw a jump of 25%.

A young girl waits to be tested during mass testing for COVID-19 coronavirus provided free of charge by the Kenyan government in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 October 2020. Picture: AFP.

AFP 

PARIS - Coronavirus cases continued to soar in Africa for a sixth week in a row, as the situation stabilised in other parts of the world like Latin America.

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

STABILISATION

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases globally decreased by 1% over the past week, according to an AFP toll Thursday. The stabilisation follows a strong let up that began in early May, after reaching a record level of 816,800 new daily cases in late April. The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with different countries also having varying counting practices and levels of testing.

DETERIORATION IN AFRICA

The number of new cases has been on the increase since mid-May in Africa, which over the past week saw a jump of 25%. In Oceania, where the coronavirus had not been widely present, there were 246 cases a day, a 95% jump.

The pandemic also picked up speed in Europe by 5% and in the Middle East by 4%. It stabilised in Latin America and the Caribbean and slowed down in the United States and Canada by 3%, and in Asia by 11%.

BIGGEST SPIKES

On a country basis, Indonesia was the country where the pandemic picked up most speed with 61% more cases per day. Bangladesh followed with 54% more, the United Kingdom 46% more, South Africa plus 42% and Portugal plus 33%.

The resurgence of cases observed in countries like Indonesia, the UK and Portugal is at least partly attributed to the arrival of the Delta variant, which was identified for the first time in India.

BIGGEST DROP IN EUROPE

Although the situation worsened slightly in Europe as a whole this week, it was home to the five biggest improvements on a country basis. The number of new cases decreased in Germany and Italy by 40%, in Ukraine by 37%, Spain by 36% and France by 32%.

MOST NEW CASES

Brazil recorded the most new cases over the past week with 77,300 per day, an increase of 10 %, followed by India which with 54,600 daily cases saw a decrease of 26%. Colombia with its 28,600 cases saw an increase of 3%.

On a per capita basis, the countries which recorded the most cases this week were Mongolia with 514 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Seychelles (505).

The two countries are among the most advanced in terms of their vaccination drives with 52% and 68% of their populations completely vaccinated.

The Seychelles uses a mixture of China's Sinopharm and AstraZeneca, while Mongolia almost completely uses Sinopharm.

DEATHS

Brazil and India mourned by far the most deaths over the past week, with 1,877 and 1,440 per day respectively.

At a world level the number of daily deaths slowed by 17% this week to 8,363.

CHINA JABS FASTEST

China vaccinated its people the fastest over the past week, jabbing 1.53% of its population every day.

Even though they are vaccinating less quickly, the United Arab Emirates (150 doses per 100 inhabitants, first and second doses combined), Israel (123), Chile (115), the UK (111) and the US (97) have the most advanced vaccination drives.