North America led an uptick in cases of COVID-19 around the world this week, recording the most new cases and deaths.
Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database.
Cases on the up
The number of new daily cases around the world increased by two percent to 656,800, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.
The pandemic has gained ground since mid-June fanned by the highly contagious Delta variant which has become predominant in most countries.
The confirmed cases only reflect a fraction of the actual number of infections, with varying counting practices and levels of testing in different countries.
Flare up in North America
This week the situation continued to worsen in the United States and Canada, which saw a 12 percent increase in new daily cases. The situation also deteriorated in Oceania where cases increased by 20 percent.
The number of new cases increased by four percent in Europe but was unchanged in Africa, with a one percent decrease in Asia and a seven percent decrease in the Middle East.
Biggest spike
On a country basis, Ethiopia saw the biggest increase, with 62 percent more cases. Germany followed with a 50 percent increase, while Serbia had 49 percent more, Sri Lanka 41 percent more and Bulgaria 35 percent more.
Biggest drops
Indonesia saw the biggest drop in the number of cases, with a 27 percent plunge, followed by Morocco with minus 26 percent, Botswana minus 24 percent, Libya minus 24 percent and Nepal minus 23 percent.
US bears the brunt
The United States remained by far the country with the most new cases with 155,300 on average every day, an increase of 12 percent. Iran followed with 35,100, a decrease of eight percent and the United Kingdom 33,800, an increase of 11 percent.
On a per capita basis the country that recorded the most new cases this week was Kosovo with 783 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Georgia with 774, and Montenegro 699.
United States most deaths
The United States mourned the most deaths with 1,192 per day this week, followed by Indonesia (1,078) and Russia (792).
At a global level the number of daily deaths increased by three percent to 10,069.
Vaccinations
Panama led the vaccination race this week, among countries with more than one million inhabitants, jabbing 1.58 percent of its population each day.
South Korea followed with 1.56 percent, New Zealand 1.40 percent, Malaysia 1.39 percent, Ecuador 1.32 percent, Israël 1.16 percent—mainly booster shots—Norway 1.14 percent, Australia 1.06 percent, Salvador 1.06 percent and Japan 0.99 percent.
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