(Reuters) – Global coronavirus cases topped 100 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report, as countries around the world struggle with new virus variants and vaccine deficiencies.
Nearly 1.3% of the world’s population has now been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and more than 2.1 million people have died.
One person has been infected every 7.7 seconds, on average, since the beginning of the year. Approximately 668,250 cases were reported every day in the same period, and the overall mortality rate is 2.15%.
The worst-hit countries – the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom – account for more than half of all reported COVID-19 cases, but account for 28 percent of the global population, according to a Reuters analysis.
It took the world 11 months to register the first 50 million pandemic cases, compared to just three months for the cases to double to 100 million. (Chart: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
About 56 countries have started vaccinating people for coronavirus, administering at least 64 million doses. Israel leads the world in per capita vaccinations, inoculating 29% of its population with at least one dose.
UNITED STATES
With over 25 million cases, the United States has 25% of all cases reported by COVID, although it represents only 4% of the world’s population. The United States leads the world in an average daily number of new reported deaths, accounting for one in five reported deaths worldwide each day. With just under 425.00 deaths, the United States has reported almost twice as many deaths as Brazil, which has the second highest number of deaths in the world.
As the most affected region in the world, Europe now reports one million new infections every four days and has reported nearly 30 million since the pandemic began. Britain reached 100,000 dead on Tuesday.
The Eastern European region, including countries such as Russia, Poland and Ukraine, contributes to almost 10% of all global COVID-19 cases.
Despite early procurement of vaccine supplies, many European countries are experiencing delivery delays from both Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc.
ASIA AND AFRICA
In India, the country with the second highest number of cases, infections are declining, with almost 13,700 new infections reported on average every day – about 15% of its peak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that India relies entirely on the supply of coronavirus vaccine, while the second most populous country in the world has inoculated more than 1 million people within a week of launching its campaign.
China, which recently marked the first anniversary of the world’s first coronavirus blockade in the central city of Wuhan, is facing the worst wave of local cases since March last year.
As richer nations move forward with mass vaccination campaigns, Africa is still struggling to secure supplies, while facing concerns about the more infectious variants of the virus first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom. .
According to the Reuters report, African countries have almost 3.5 million cases and more than 85,000 deaths.
The South African variant, also known as 501Y.V2, is 50% more infectious and has been detected in at least 20 countries.
US President Joe Biden will impose a ban on the majority of non-US citizens entering the country, who were recently in South Africa, starting on Saturday, in an attempt to contain the spread of a new variant of COVID-19.
Australia and New Zealand have fared better than most other economies developed during the pandemic through rapid border closures, blockades, strict hotel quarantine for travelers and large-scale tests and social distancing.
“We have the virus under control here in Australia, but we want to launch the vaccine,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told a news conference on Sunday.
Reporting by Shaina Ahluwalia and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Jane Wardell