Bangladesh among Top 5 Countries with Covid Surge

Bangladesh is among the top five countries that witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases in the last five weeks, according to a specialised AFP database.  

Coronavirus cases continued to soar in Africa for a fifth week in a row, bucking an improvement in most of the rest of the world which started in early May, the database showed.

Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database.

Five per cent drop in global Covid cases

The number of new daily Covid-19 cases globally dropped by five per cent to 3,72,200, according to an AFP toll Thursday.

The coronavirus started its deceleration six weeks ago, after reaching a record level of 8,16,800 new cases a day in late April.

The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with different countries also having varying counting practices and levels of testing.

Bangladesh among top five

Africa stood out from the rest of the world, with an increase of 39 per cent in new daily cases.

On a country basis, three of the five biggest increases around the world occurred on the continent, with Namibia recording 99 per cent more, before Zambia (92 per cent more), Mongolia (68 per cent more), South Africa (plus 53 per cent) and Bangladesh (plus 44 per cent).

Asian improvement

The pandemic also picked up speed with nine per cent more cases in the Middle East and six per cent more in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It slowed in Asia by 21 per cent, in the United States and Canada by 20 per cent, in Oceania by four per cent and in Europe by one per cent.

While the situation on the European continent is stable, it is home to four of the five biggest decreases of the of the week: the Netherlands (52 per cent less cases), Belgium (minus 45 per cent), France (minus 43 per cent), Nepal (minus 42 per cent) and Germany (minus 41 per cent).

India has most cases

Although the number of new cases dropped by 30 per cent, India continued to bear the brunt of the pandemic, with 73,900 new daily cases, trailed by Brazil with 70,200, an increase of 21 per cent.

On a per capita basis, the Seychelles again saw by far the biggest number of new cases, with 1,685 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The grim figures come despite the archipelago being one of the most advanced countries in its vaccination drive, with more than 65 per cent of its people having been completely vaccinated, usually with either the AstraZeneca or Sinopharm jabs.

India, Brazil mourn most deaths

India and Brazil also mourned the most deaths over the past week, with 3,175 and 1,998 per day respectively.

Globally the number of deaths remained stable at 10,108 per day.

Vaccination race

Europe led the vaccination race this week, home to 15 out of the 20 quickest countries.

Iceland gave doses to 2.19 per cent of its population every day, ahead of Malta (1.46 per cent) and the Netherlands (1.39 per cent).

Although they are vaccinating less quickly, the United Arab Emirates (with 143 doses administered for 100 habitants), Israel (123), Chile (109), the United Kingdom (107) and the United States (95) are among the countries with the most advanced vaccination drives.

Source: AFP