(Paris) With the number of contaminations linked to COVID-19 exploding around the world, the symbolic milestone of one million new daily cases was crossed for the first time in the week of December 23 to 29, according to a count of the ‘AFP.
More than 7.3 million new cases of COVID-19 have been detected worldwide in the past seven days, an average of 1,045,000 infections per day. These figures are significantly higher than the record set before the current wave, reached between April 23 and 29, 2021 (817,000 daily cases had then been recorded).
They are based on the reports communicated daily by the health authorities of each country. A significant proportion of the less severe or asymptomatic cases remain undetected despite the intensification of screening in many countries since the start of the pandemic, after the discovery of the virus at the end of 2019. In addition, testing policies differ from country to country. to the other.
The number of contaminations in the world, on the rise since mid-October, has increased by 46% in the last seven days compared to the previous week. The spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant could lead to “a tsunami of cases,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday. “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on an exhausted health workforce and health systems on the brink of collapse,” he warned.
More than 85% of current contaminations are concentrated between two regions where Omicron has a strong presence, Europe (4,022,000 cases in the last seven days, + 36% compared to the previous week) and the United States and the Canada (2,264,000 cases, + 83%). Only Asia (268,000 cases, -12%) has seen the pandemic recede over the past week.
Unlike contamination, the number of deaths linked to COVID-19 continues to decline that began three weeks ago. Around 6,400 virus-related deaths have been recorded worldwide in the past seven days (down 6% from the previous week), the lowest since October 2020.
At the height of the pandemic, 14,800 daily deaths were recorded between January 20 and 26.