(Reuters) – Global coronavirus cases topped 100 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters account, as countries around the world struggle with new virus variants and vaccine deficits.
Nearly 1.3% of the world’s population has 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. During the same period, 668,250 cases were reported every day, with a global mortality rate of 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 world’s 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. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
About 56 countries have begun vaccinating people against the 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 more than 25 million cases, the United States has 25% of all COVID cases reported, although they represent only 4% of the world’s population. The United States leads the world in the average daily number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in five deaths reported worldwide each day. With just under 425,000 deaths, the United States has recorded nearly twice as many deaths as Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll in the world.
As the most affected region in the world, Europe currently reports one million new infections every four days and has reported nearly 30 million since the pandemic began. The UK reached 100,000 people on Tuesday
The Eastern European region, including countries such as Russia, Poland and Ukraine, contributes to almost 10% of all global cases of COVID-19.
Despite soon getting contracts for vaccine supplies, many European countries face delays in shipments from Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc
ASIA AND AFRICA
In India, the nation with the second highest number of cases, infections are declining, with almost 13,700 new infections reported on average each day, around 15% of its peak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that India had full confidence in coronavirus vaccine supplies as the world’s second most populous country inoculated more than a million people within a week of starting its campaign.
China, which recently marked the first anniversary of the world’s first coronavirus closure 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 continues to struggle to secure supplies as it faces concerns about the most infectious variants of the virus first identified in South Africa and Britain.
According to the Reuters account, African countries have about 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.
U.S. President Joe Biden will impose a ban on most non-Americans who have recently been in South Africa since Saturday to try to contain the spread of a new variant of COVID. -19.
Australia and New Zealand have performed better than most other economies developed during the pandemic due to rapid border closures, closures, strict hotel quarantine for travelers and widespread testing and social distancing.
“We have the virus under control here in Australia, but we want to deploy the vaccine,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Sunday.
Reports of Shaina Ahluwalia and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Edited by Lisa Shumaker and Jane Wardell