MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. The past week saw a record-high number of novel coronavirus cases detected worldwide, with about one million people testing positive for the disease in the past seven days.

The weekly number of newly confirmed cases across the globe stood at 500,000-600,000 in May, and grew to 700,000-800,000 in the first weeks of June. The global infection growth rate has been at 13% for the third consecutive week, following a clear downward trend in previous months.

The number of convalescents also increased rapidly in the reported period, reaching 49%, while mortality continues to decline and now stands at 5.3% - the lowest figure in the past two months. By now, the disease claimed the lives of 450,000 people all over the world.

Changes in top ten

Reshuffle continues in the top ten of the world’s hardest-hit countries, as European countries, which became the hotspot of the disease shortly after the initial outbreak in China, are now being overtaken by countries of Asia and South America.

The United States remains the hardest-hit country with more than 2.1 million cases. In the past seven days, the growth rate stood at 8.3%, compared to 7.6% the week before.

Brazil is second, with almost 1 million cases and weekly increase of 22%. Nevertheless, the pace of the infection slowed down compared to May, when reached 50% during some weeks. Russia is third, with some 568,000 confirmed cases, but a relatively slow growth in new infections.

India, with over 380,000 confirmed cases, is fourth, followed by the United Kingdom, where the number of those infected is about 300,000. However, the epidemic process in those countries differs noticeably, with weekly growth being 28% and 3.1%, respectively.

According to WHO figures for Friday, the biggest number of coronavirus cases was also reported in Spain (245,268), Peru (240,908), Italy (238,159), Chile (225,103), and Iran (197,647). The infection rate in Peru dropped to 14%, while in Chile it increased to 25%.

Germany and France, once among the hardest-hit countries worldwide, are now ranked 11th and 12th.

South Africa posts biggest growth

The biggest growth in new cases in now reported mostly in countries out of the top ten. The leader is South Africa with a weekly incease of 43% and 84,000 novel coronavirus cases in total.

Besides, the disease has been spreading rapidly in Pakistan (34%) and Bangladesh (31%). However, the growth rate in those countries slowed down slightly compared to last week, when the figures stood at 40% and 36%, respectively.

Saudi Arabia, which is ranked 16th in terms of overall number of cases, has the infection rate of 26%, up one percentage point since last week.

Figures also remain high in Mexico (more than 165,000 cases and a weekly increase of 24%) and Argentina (37,000 cases and 37-percent growth in the past seven days, respectively).

Convalescence rate

The number of convalescents worldwide might soon reach 50%. In the past seven days, approximately 500,000 people across the globe have recovered from the illness, but this is noticeably less than the 700,000 recoveries recorded during the previous week.

The biggest share of convalescents is reported in Germany (91.5%), Turkey (85%), Iran (80%), Italy (76%). In Russia, some 57% of all coronavirus patients have already recovered.

The infection’s mortality rate is also on decline. The figure, which topped 7% in early May, has already dropped to 5.3% (down 0.3 percentage points in the past seven days).

In terms of fatalities, the United States remains the leader with over 114,000 deaths, followed by Brazil (some 48,000) and the United Kingdom (42,000). Russia has about 7,800 fatalities, according to latest reports, but the authorities warn that the figure might later be revised after detailed calculations. So far, Russia has one of the world’s lowest coronavirus mortality rates of less than 1.4%.