As the number of COVID-19-related infections spread worldwide, the symbolic milestone of 1 million new daily cases was crossed for the first time in the week of December 23-29, according to an AFP tally.
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More than 7.3 million new cases of COVID-19 have been detected worldwide in the past seven days, averaging 1,045,000 infections per day. These numbers are much higher than the record set before the current wave, which was reached between April 23 and 29, 2021 (817,000 daily cases were recorded after that).
They are based on the reports that the health authorities of each country send daily. Une part importante des cas les moins graves ou asymptomatiques reste non détectée malgré l’intensification du dépistage dans de nombreux pays depuis le début de la pandémie, après la découverte du virus fin fin 2019. for the other.
The number of infections in the world, which has been increasing since mid-October, has increased by 46% in the past seven days compared to the previous week. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday that the spread of the highly contagious Omicron could lead to a “tsunami of cases”. “This represents and will continue to put enormous pressure on an overstretched health workforce and health systems on the verge of collapse,” he warned.
Over 85% of current contamination cases are concentrated between two regions where Omicron has a strong presence, Europe (4,022,000 cases in the past seven days, +36% compared to the previous week) and the United States and Canada (2,264,000 cases, +83%). Only Asia (268,000 cases, -12%) has seen the epidemic recede over the past week.
In contrast to pollution, the number of deaths related to COVID-19 continues the decline that began three weeks ago. About 6,400 virus-related deaths have been recorded worldwide in the past seven days (down 6% from the previous week), the lowest level since October 2020.
At the height of the epidemic, 14,800 daily deaths were recorded between January 20 and 26.