The numbers are staggering. The world is recording more than two million coronavirus infections every day these days, far ahead of the peaks reached in previous waves.
First region concerned, Europe suffered last week an increase of 59% of new infections over seven days with more than 4.9 million new infections. In total, more than 100 million cases have been recorded there since December 2019.
This unexpected increase disrupts the programs of the health authorities. Curfews have been reinstated in several countries, notably in the Netherlands, Peru, Catalonia, northeastern Spain, and of course in Quebec.
On the other hand, this increase in contaminations does not have an impact as clearly on the death curve, in particular thanks to vaccination. The daily death toll worldwide has fallen below 6,000, its lowest number since October 2020.
Authorities in South Africa – where the Omicron variant was first detected a month ago – have said they have already passed the peak of this wave. A sign that this wave could be the most intense, but also the shortest to date.
This text is taken from our newsletter “The Coronavirus Mail” dated January 5, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
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