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The coronavirus continues to rise in most of the world, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, where both the number of new cases and the number of new deaths are declining.
Europe represents the highest the increase in the number of deaths, states the WHO in its weekly report.
With 36,286 new deaths during the week to December 22 compared to the previous week, the increase in Europe is dramatic: 46 percent.
Several European countries are introducing different types of closures between Christmas and New Years. In the already badly affected Czech Republic, a new closing of parts of the company will begin today, which will last until January 22, after the number of cases has increased dramatically. However, the number of deaths has decreased since the November 4 peak and is now around 90 per day. At the same time, on Thursday, the Czech Republic reported the highest number of infections compared to the number sampled during the entire pandemic, Blesk writes: 43 percent.
Neighboring Slovakia was introduced a series of restrictions already on Saturday.
One of the most affected European countries at the moment is Estonia, where the number of cases and deaths increased for the ninth consecutive week. Last week, 18 percent more people died in Estonia as a result of covid-19 than the previous week. According to the Postimees newspaper, the number of infections per 100,000 is already almost 574 and the coronavirus tests carried out on Christmas Eve showed that 15.7 percent of those surveyed were infected.
For Germany, the number of infected remains at the highest level to date during the pandemic. The death toll also points steadily upwards from around 90 a day in early November to now just over 600. In Gelsenkirchen, nursing homes have been badly affected and on Friday around 300 cases were reported in the care of elderly. 31 of the 82 people who have died in the city so far are in elderly care, writes Der Spiegel.
Another part of the world where the infection continues to increase is America with North America, South America and Central America.
The United States continues to report on a couple hundred thousand new infected every day and a death toll of around 3,000 during Christmas and now has 1,016 deaths per million inhabitants. Sweden has 817.
In several states in the United States, the situation in hospitals is very tense. In California, with more than two million confirmed cases and another 306 deaths reported on Christmas Eve, the situation in San Francisco is described as very difficult and, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, hospitals are now beginning to approach maximum capacity for intensive care units.
In the Los Angeles area it is the situation is similar and where a person in covid-19 dies every ten minutes, claims CNN. Several hospitals are now also short of oxygen, writes the Los Angeles Times. Authorities in the area urge patients to avoid contacting the emergency department unless absolutely necessary.
The CDC now requires a negative covid-19 test, conducted 72 hours before departure, for anyone entering from the UK, but several experts note that the new virus mutation was discovered in the UK as early as September and probably already in the US.
“People can still travel even if they are infected, so this is like trying to trap mosquitoes with a steel fence,” Dr. Jorge Rodríguez told CNN on Friday.
Brazil also continues show very high figures for both deaths and infections and the country ranks second after the United States in terms of the entire American continent.
The new virus mutation has also been discovered in Ireland and Germany.
