MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. The number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide over the past seven days has increased by 3.5 mln. The world documented 0.5 mln more infections than a week before, according to TASS’ calculations.
Due to another increase in Western Europe and North America, the incidence returned to the level of late May, and specialists are concerned that this is only the beginning: as Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, the world is in the early stages of another wave of the pandemic.
TASS gathered key statistics of the pandemic for this week.
A new rise
In a number of countries where the situation has stabilized since spring, the spread rates of the coronavirus infection are on the rise again. For example, the US began to detect more than 30,000 daily infections for the first time since mid-May, while in June this indicator went below 10,000.
In Russia, since late June the number of confirmed cases has not gone below 20,000 a day, and over the past two days it has been surpassing 25,000.
The situation in Western Europe is rapidly deteriorating as well: in the UK, the number of daily detected cases is approaching 50,000 (compared to 5,000 in early summer), while in the Netherlands it has surpassed 10,000 for the first time since December. On Tuesday, Spanish authorities reported a record high of the infections since the beginning of the pandemic - over 43,000 per day.
The incidence in Italy and Germany has almost doubled (however, right now this is about 2,500 and 1,500 daily infections, respectively), and in France, where it increased 1.6-fold in one week, the authorities introduced serious restrictions: since August 1, the French won’t be able to enter bars, restaurants and shopping centers without special sanitary passports, while medical and rescue workers will have to undergo mandatory vaccination.
A new decrease
According to statistics, Latin America in general has weathered another wave of the epidemic. In Brazil, the number of confirmed cases has been decreasing for the second week in a row and is already below 40,000 a day, while in Argentina it has decreased approximately 2.7-fold compared to early summer.
In Colombia, the coronavirus spread rates have dropped by a third - this week the country has been documenting on average about 20,000 daily infections. This corresponds to the indicators of the end of May.
Mexico remains an exception since the growth in incidence began there precisely at the end of spring. During the last two days it has been documenting over 10,000 cases of the infection for the first time since February.
In another part of the planet, the incidence has been decreasing in South Africa where last week it reached its peak. The country that has been documenting 26,000 daily infections is currently registering about 15,000 infections a day.
A growth in fatalities
Over seven days the world has recorded over 55,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus infection which is 2,500 more than last week.
The number of fatalities is rapidly growing in Indonesia - there about 1,000 fatalities are being recorded daily against the background of a serious rise in incidence. This is one of the highest levels worldwide surpassed only by Brazil where about 1,200 infected are dying daily (which is a quarter less than the previous week).
Russia has been setting daily records in terms of fatalities for several days in a row. On Friday, the country reported almost 800 deaths caused by the coronavirus infection.
At the same time, the number of fatalities has been decreasing in Argentina and Colombia. In the former it has decreased from 500 to less than 400 a day, while in the latter - from 600 to 550.