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GENEVA (AFP) – The coronavirus pandemic appears to be accelerating around the world, with new cases skyrocketing last week to a new seven-day high of nearly two million, even as new deaths declined, statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In a new global update, the WHO said late on Monday (September 21) that during the week ending September 20, 1,998,897 new cases of the new coronavirus were recorded worldwide.
That marks a 6 percent increase from the previous week and “the highest number of cases reported in a single week since the start of the epidemic,” the UN health agency said.
Since the new coronavirus first appeared in China at the end of last year, it has infected more than 31 million people worldwide and killed almost 962,000, according to an AFP tally from official sources on Monday.
Almost all regions of the world saw an increase in new cases last week, the WHO said, and Europe and the Americas saw new cases increase by 11 and 10 percent, respectively.
Only Africa, which has remained relatively unscathed by the pandemic, sidestepped the upward trend and reported a 12% drop in new cases from the previous week.
Even as cases skyrocketed across much of the world, the number of new deaths is declining, WHO statistics showed.
DECREASE IN DEATHS
Last week, around 37,700 new virus-related deaths were recorded worldwide, marking a 10 percent decrease compared to the previous week.
The decline was driven by America, long the worst-hit region, where new deaths were 22% less than a week earlier, and by Africa, where new deaths were down 16%.
Meanwhile, America still accounts for half of all reported cases and 55 percent of deaths in the world. The clear drop in new deaths in the region was driven primarily by declines in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
The United States, which is the most affected country in the world, and Brazil, the second most affected, continued to report the highest number of deaths, each with more than 5,000 new deaths in the last week.
Europe, some of which are experiencing a second wave of infections, meanwhile, its new death count soared to more than 4,000 during the seven-day period, a 27 percent increase compared to the previous week.
In Europe, France, Russia, Spain and Britain reported the highest number of new cases last week, while Hungary and Denmark reported the largest relative increase in deaths.
Britain still has the highest cumulative death toll on the continent at nearly 42,000 since the start of the pandemic.
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