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The global number of new Covid-19 cases has continued to decrease for the third consecutive week. 5.5 million new cases were recorded between 18 and 24 August, down 6% on the previous week. This drop was seen across all regions, with Africa down 21%, North and South America down 18%, Europe down 8% and Asia down 5% (chart 1). However, these figures should be treated with caution as a number of countries have made changes to their Covid-19 testing strategies, resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently lower numbers of cases detected. At the same time, vaccination campaigns continue to progress, albeit at a much slower pace. To date, 68% of the world's population has received at least one dose of a vaccine (chart 2).
The world recorded 6.9 million new confirmed COVID-19 cases between 13 and 20 July, 9% more than in the previous week. This was a fifth consecutive week of rising case numbers. Asia saw the largest weekly growth. At the same time, footfall in shopping and leisure facilities in France, Belgium and Germany remains at its pre-COVID-19 level, while in Italy it is no longer very far off. However, footfall is still below the pre-pandemic level in the US, UK, Spain and Japan.
Between 5 and 12 July, 6.2 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported around the world, a 15% increase compared with the previous week and the fourth consecutive week of rising infections. Case numbers rose in all regions. Europe saw the largest increase (figure 1): infections rose by 20% to 3 million, representing 48% of the global total.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to slow around the world. According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, 3.3 million new cases were recorded around the world in the week of 1 to 7 June, a 4% drop on the previous week. On a regional level, the epidemic continues to ease in Africa (-24%) and Asia (-18%), whilst the number of new cases in Europe has stabilised after two months of substantial falls. New case numbers in South America continued to rise strongly (21%), whilst North America also posted a small increase. Meanwhile, 67% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The epidemiological situation arising from the Covid-19 pandemic continues to improve in most regions of the world. For the first time since mid-November 2021, the number of new cases has dropped below the symbolic level of 3.5 million per week (7-day moving average). Over the same period, visits to retail and leisure facilities held at pre-pandemic levels in Belgium, Germany and France, and are approaching normal levels in Italy. Retail and leisure mobility still falls short of pre-pandemic levels in the other countries (United States, Spain, the UK and Japan).
According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 4 million new cases were recorded around the world between 12 and 18 May, an increase of 5% on the previous week. This represents the first weekly increase since the beginning of February. Looked at on a regional level, the situation in Europe improved significantly (-20%), and that in Africa stabilised. However, case numbers continued to climb in North and South America (17%). Asia saw the first increase after two months of virtually continuous falls. Meanwhile, 66% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The downward trend in the weekly number of new cases of Covid-19 continued in most regions of the world. For the first time since mid-November 2021, the number of new cases for the week fell below the symbolic level of 4 million on average for a moving seven-day period. Some 3.6 million new cases were recorded between 5 and 11 May, a fall of 11% on the previous week. On a regional basis, case numbers continued to fall drastically in Europe (-20%) and Asia (-17%), but rose in Africa (42%), North America (24%) and South America (10%). The sharp rise in Africa in recent weeks is linked to soaring cases in South Africa. Meanwhile, 66% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine
For the first time since December 2021, the number of new global Covid-19 cases for the week has fallen below the symbolic level of 5 million (average for a moving seven-day period). Some 4.3 million new cases were recorded between 26 April and 3 May, a fall of 15% on the previous week. The fall in infections continued in Asia (-24%) and Europe (-17%), but other regions indicated an increase in case numbers: North America (+11%), South America (+8%) and Africa (+4%). To date, 12 billion vaccine doses have been given around the world, taking the share of the global population to have received at least one jab to 65.4%. Despite this, in some parts of the world overall vaccine coverage remains low, with just 15.8% of people in low income countries having received at least their first dose.
According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, 5.9 million cases of Covid-19 were reported worldwide between 13 and 19 April (down 24% relative to the previous week), the lowest level since the end of December 2021. The number of cases continued to fall in Europe and Asia (down 26%), South America (down 24%) and Africa (down 13%), while a further increase was seen in North America (7%) for the second time in a row (chart 1). To date, the threshold of 11 billion vaccine doses has been reached, including 1.8 billion follow-up doses. This means that around 65% of the worldwide population has received at least one dose of a vaccine (chart 2).
The number of new Covid-19 cases reported worldwide fell for the third consecutive week. For the first time since January 2022, the number of new cases for the week has fallen below the symbolic level of 10 million on average for a moving seven-day period. Some 8 million new cases were recorded between 7 and 14 April, a fall of 21% on the previous week (Chart 1). Numbers continued to fall in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, although North America saw an increase after three months of virtually continuous falls. Meanwhile, 65% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine (Chart 2).
The Covid-19 pandemic slowed worldwide for the second consecutive week, with a significant 14% decline in the number of new cases reported between 31 March and 6 April compared to the previous week. New fact to notice: this improvement benefitted all regions (chart 1): South America and Africa (-27%), Asia (-20%), Europe (-11%) and North America (-5%). Meanwhile, vaccination campaigns continue to progress. To date, 11.4 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered worldwide, bringing to 65% the share of the global population that has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
After a week of stabilisation, global Covid-19 case numbers have started to fall again. 11 million new cases were recorded between 24 and 30 March, a 9% drop on the previous week. In more general terms, the number of new cases has continued to fall in North and South America, whilst Asia saw its first fall in case numbers after two months of near-continuous increases. In Europe, by contrast, the situation was stable for the second week in a row.
After a week of rises, figures for the Covid-19 pandemic have stabilised worldwide, albeit at a high level. 12 million new cases were recorded around the world in the week of 17-23 March, a figure similar to that in the previous week. However, the picture is uneven around the world.
After trending downwards since the end of January, Covid-19 figures have been ticking upwards again around the globe: 11.7 million new cases were reported between 10-16 March, a 9% increase over the previous week. This increase is due to the highly contagious Omicron variant and to the easing of health restrictions in several countries. The increase in the number of new cases was especially striking in Asia and Africa, up 15% and 12%, respectively.
With the Omicron variant now becoming dominant in most countries, the number of new Covid-19 cases worldwide continues to fall. However, the pace of this decline has slowed during the week of March 3-9 (-2% compared to the previous week). By region, South America and Africa saw big falls, at 38%, followed by North America (-30%) and Europe (-7%). In contrast, case numbers in Asia rose by 15%. Meanwhile, 64% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The number of new Covid-19 cases continues to decline in most regions of the world. Moreover, retail and leisure traffic held to an upward trend in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, even though some declines were observed for the most recent data points. In Japan, retail and leisure traffic continues to improve.
Sixteen million new Covid-19 cases were confirmed during the week of 9-15 February, a 20% decline from the previous week. All regions reported declines, with new cases down 44% in North America, 34% in Africa, 26% in South America, 14% in Europe, and nearly 12% in Asia.
In the week of 2-8 February 2022, 19.9 million confirmed new cases of Covid-19 were reported worldwide, 14% less than the previous week. This is the second consecutive week of decline. All regions contributed to this decline: North America (-38%), Africa (-24%), South America (-17%) and Asia and Europe (nearly -5% each).
According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 22 million new cases were recorded around the world between 27 January and 2 February, a fall of 3% on the previous week. Nearly 61.3% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. The last two weeks have brought an increase in visits to retail and recreation facilities in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the USA. The UK saw a bigger increase, probably due to the removal of nearly all health protection measures, whilst the downward trend in Japan continued.
The number of new daily cases of Covid-19 has continued to rise in most parts of the world. Over the same period, several individual countries saw falls (Chart 4, black line): United Kingdom (-11%), USA (-9%), Argentina, Spain (both -5%), and Italy (-3%). Meanwhile, Japan (109%), Brazil (70%) and Germany (58%) stood out for their soaring case numbers. At the same time, vaccination doses hit the symbolic 10 billion mark.
On a weekly basis, the highest number of new cases in a single country was in the USA, followed by France and India, which stands out with a 117% surge in cases of). Visits to retail and leisure facilities remain on a downward trend in Spain and Italy, and although the most recent figures in Germany, Belgium, France, the US and the UK show an increase, the trend remains downward. In Japan, mobility now is falling fairly sharply after previously showing positive momentum for several months.
The weekly number of new Covid-19 cases remains very high in most regions because of the Omicron variant. On a weekly basis, the highest number of new cases in a single country was in the United States. France was next, followed by India, Italy, the UK, Spain, Argentina and Australia. On the mobility front, visits to retail and leisure facilities remain on a downward trend in Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, the US and the UK, although the most recent numbers show an uptick. In Japan, mobility is falling fairly sharply after previously showing positive momentum.
The highest number of new cases in a single country was the was the United States (3,141,071, a 100% increase from the previous week). It was followed by the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Some 9.33 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide since vaccination campaigns began in the fourth quarter of 2020, including 547 million booster doses. Nearly 60% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
In the week of 8 to 14 December, 4.31 million new Covid-19 cases were reported worldwide, a 5.1% increase compared to the previous week. The biggest weekly increase was in Africa (+111%). New cases also soared in North America, up 23%, due to the increase in contaminations following the Thanksgiving holidays (chart 4, black line). Over the same period, a decline in new cases was observed in South America (-7.4%), Asia (-5%) and Europe (-0.2%), but in Europe this comes after an exponential increase in previous weeks (chart 1). As to the spread of Covid-19 variants, several countries reported confirmed cases of Omicron recently, bringing the total to 67 countries.
Weekly numbers of new Covid-19 cases have continued to rise in most regions of the world. The biggest jump (81%) in weekly numbers was in Africa, particularly in southern Africa where the number of cases is soaring with the emergence of the Omicron variant. The continent was followed by North America (16%) and Europe (3%). Infection numbers in Asia fell by 6% and stabilised in South America. Meanwhile, 320 million booster doses were administered around the world, half of them in high-income countries. To date, 55.2% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
