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 (chart 1).
Over the same period, several countries reported sharp declines (chart 4, black line): India (-59%), Belgium (-46%), the United States and France (-44%), Spain (-36%), Italy and the Netherlands (-32%), and the UK (-27%). In contrast, a few countries reported a big increase in the number of new cases: Malaysia (+109%), Indonesia (+42%) and South Korea (+71%). At the same time, nearly 62% of the global population has received at least one dose of the vaccine (chart 2).
Retail and leisure footfall continues to rise in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the United States. In Japan, the latest data point towards the beginning of a recovery (chart 3, blue line).
Lastly, the OECD Weekly Tracker of GDP growth continues to show positive momentum in the UK. In France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the United States, the rebound is more marked, while in Japan this rebound is more recent and still timid (chart 3, black line). The OECD Tracker is based on Google Trends resulting from queries on consumption, the labour market, housing, industrial activity as well as uncertainty. The OECD calculates the tracker over a 2-year period (y/2y) to avoid the base effect of a comparison with 2020 data.
Tarik Rharrab
