In the last seven days, a record number of Covid-19 cases was reported worldwide: between the 22nd and 28th of December, more than 935,000 cases were reported daily. These figures, the highest since the emergence of the original coronavirus variant at the end of 2019, are based on daily data provided by the health authorities in each country. A significant proportion of lighter or asymptomatic cases is still not detectable, although testing has intensified in many countries since the beginning of the pandemic.
In addition, the test guidelines also differ from country to country. A total of 6.55 million covid-positive people were identified between the 22nd and 28th of December. Or average 935,863 per day, as the virus spreads with a previously unprecedented speed. These figures are well above the previous record that was recorded between 23rd and 29th of April, as an average of 817,000 people were registered a day.
The number of cases, which has been increasing worldwide since mid October, has risen by 37 percent over the past seven days. “The rapid growth rate is probably a combination of virus ability to bypass the immune system and omicron’s increased infectivity,” WHO reported on Tuesday. “The total risk associated with the new omicron variant remains very high,” – told by UN Health Authority. So far, the rapid spread of Covid-19 has not led to higher mortality rates worldwide, which have fallen in the last three weeks. Over the past seven days an average of about 6,450 new deaths have been recorded per day, at least since the end of October 2020. At the height of the pandemic, between the 20th and 26th of January of this year, 14.8 thousand people were registered daily.
Most new infections are currently being found in Europe, where more than 3.5 million cases have been reported in the last seven days. This level of cases is unprecedented, as previous waves have never registered more than 300,000 people on the continent.
In the two years since the emergence of the virus, more than 282 million people worldwide have been officially identified as being infected by covid-19.
