Coronavirus: sharp increase in cases in Europe and the United States | This week, infections around the world have increased by 9%

The covid-19 pandemic caused this week in Europe and the United States a dramatic increase in cases by the presence of the Delta variant, according to official data from different countries.

However, the number of cases diagnosed only reflects a fraction of the actual number of people infected, and comparisons between countries should be made with caution as testing policy varies from country to country.

With 521,800 cases recorded daily worldwide, contagions increased very quickly this week (+ 9% compared to the previous week). This percentage has increased since mid-June, after two months of continuous decline.

Only Africa and the Latin America and the Caribbean zone improved their situation compared to last week: 11% and 9% fewer cases, respectively.

The number of people infected has increased rapidly in the rest of the regions: + 62% in the United States / Canada (only the United States is progressing, Canada is falling), + 42% in Oceania (but with relatively few cases, 1,200 daily), + 26% in Europe, + 7% in Middle East and 5% in Asia.

The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus has become the majority in much of Europe and the United States. France is the country where cases have increased the most (+ 193%, 14,300 new positives per day) among countries with more than 1,000 daily cases in the last seven days. An increase that could be overestimated since July 14 was a public holiday in the country.

They are followed by the percentages Israel (+ 150%, 1,300) and Italy (+ 115%, 3,400). Conversely, Tunisia (-40%, 4,500 new cases per day) and Namibia (-40%, 700) recorded the largest drops this week.

The UK is the country with the highest number of new infections this week (45,900, + 24%), followed by Indonesia (43,800, – 1%) and the United States (42,900, + 63%).

In terms of incidence per 100,000 inhabitants, the archipelago of Fiji (834) is the most affected, ahead of Cyprus (782) and the Seychelles (545). The UK (473) and Spain (380) are also in the top ten. Indonesia recorded the highest number of deaths per day, with 1,263 people per day, ahead of Brazil (1,153) and India (1,000).

Ecuador became the fastest vaccinating country of over one million this week, by administering doses to 1.75% of its population each day. They are followed by Mauritius (1.57%) and Denmark (1.30%).