Overseas Situation Report Friday 9th July 2021

 

By Mike Evans

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building on the new.” – Socrates

On Wednesday of this week, the world reached another chilling milestone in the Covid-19 pandemic – the official death toll from the virus surpassed 4 million.

In total, three countries account for more than a third of all global deaths. The United States, which has the highest number of fatalities at 606,000, accounts for 15% of the global total, followed by Brazil and India.

The grim milestone comes as new cases and deaths are dropping in the US and Europe, where significant numbers of residents have been vaccinated. But some developing countries, such as Indonesia, are still facing surging outbreaks, as authorities struggle to secure enough vaccines to protect citizens.

The Delta variant, a more transmissible and possibly more dangerous strain of coronavirus, is also contributing to an increase in cases in some countries and regions. In the US, the Delta variant now makes up more than half of all new infections, according to estimates from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

An average of 7,900 Covid-19 deaths were reported each day over the past week, according to JHU. That is 46% less than the global peak of more than 14,700 daily deaths in January, but 57% higher than the pace of about 5,000 daily deaths from this time last year.

The global death toll exceeded 1 million on September 18th, 2020, 191 days after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. It took 115 days for the global death toll to hit 2 million, 88 days to surpass 3 million, and another 89 days to reach 4 million.

Given the difficulty in accurately tracking the spread of the virus, especially in the developing world, many experts believe the global death toll is likely significantly higher than the officially reported number.

For the rest of this report, we are taking a look at the weekly trends across the world.

We start with Europe, where we saw reported cases rise by 43%, an increase of 164,655 cases. Just as concerning, Europe saw a rise of 3% in deaths attributed to Covid-19 in the past 7 days making a total of 6,348. Russia had the highest death count at 4,827 followed by Germany with 206 and the Ukraine with 197. Three other countries, the United Kingdom, France and Italy all had over 150 deaths in the past week.

Of new cases reported, the United Kingdom had the highest number with a figure of 190,868, followed by Russia with 168,035. In Europe, the worrying factor for the past 7 days is that of the 47 countries which record their figures, 35 of them all recorded increases in cases with 29 countries recording 10%+ increases.

Next, we go to North America, which for this context includes the countries of Canada, USA and all of Central America and the Caribbean.

The weekly trend here is a rise of 11% in reported cases, 213,346 compared to 192,819 in the previous week. In deaths we have seen a 13% drop in the last 7 days. Of the 35 countries represented, 18 have had increases in cases. One good factor to report is that only 15 of the 35 countries recorded 3 deaths or more in the past week.

By definition of its population, the USA recorded the highest number of new cases at 99,909, up 5% from the previous week. Next highest was Mexico with 36,698 and Cuba with 23,584. Only Cuba of these three had an increase in deaths during the 7-day period, while both the USA and Mexico showed a decrease of 20% and 11% respectively for deaths compared to the previous week.

In Asia over the past 7 days 1,080,832 new cases were recorded, an increase of 12% on the previous week. With regards to deaths in the region there was a 2% increase to 17,284 deaths.

While India showed a decrease in cases by 9% there were a number of notable increases across the region.

Indonesia saw a 39% increase in the week to record 201,125 new cases, a 52% increase. Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Thailand all posted 30%+ increases and in Vietnam and Myanmar, infections more than doubled in the week.

Deaths in Asia were led by India, Indonesia and Bangladesh which, between these three countries, accounted for 65% of all the deaths in the region. On the plus side for India, they saw a 25% drop in fatalities in the past week compared to the previous week.

In South America, which for many weeks has been the hotbed of the pandemic, they have seen a drop of 13% in reported cases and a 9% drop in deaths.

Brazil, Columbia and Argentina lead the way with the highest number of infections in the week but all three are showing a drop in numbers compared to the previous week.

More signs that the current wave of infections is starting to recede in South America is that only Venezuela of all the countries has shown a small increase in reported cases this week. Every other country is showing a drop with some showing significant drops. Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador all showed drops of at least 30% compared to the previous seven days.

In terms of deaths reported in the last week only Venezuela and French Guiana have increased compared to the previous week, by just 8 and 6 deaths respectively.

To Africa next where the situation is not as positive.

In the past week there has been a 21% increase in record cases across the continent and more concerning a 25% increase in deaths.

As seen in previous waves, South Africa is bearing the brunt again of infections with an increase in the past 7 days of 23% recording 138,364 new cases. This is just under 50% of the total for the whole region with other countries, like Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Morocco all showing increases over 50% compared to the previous week.

South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia have recorded the most deaths in the past week, with South Africa recording 1,389 out of the total deaths in the region of 4,042. Vaccinations which according to every expert is the key to saving lives are few and far between in the Africa Continent and these figures bear this out with alarming clarity.

Finally, to Oceania, and in Fiji a big spike in infections this week shows they recorded 3,522 new cases compared to 1,878 the previous week, a massive 85% increase. Previously since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Fiji has been almost clear of infections. In fact, since the start they have only recorded 8,661 cases, so to see 5400 new cases in just 14 days is a very worrying concern for the people of Fiji. This is shown up when looking at the death statistics. Fiji has lost just 48 people to Covid-19 and 29 of them have come in the past 14 days. Let us hope that the vaccine programme is happening now in Fiji and all the other countries where we are seeing these spikes in infections.

Until the next time, Stay Safe.

Total Cases Worldwide – 186,356,010

Total Deaths Worldwide – 4,026,894

Total Recovered Worldwide – 170,495,131

Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,833,985 (6.4% of the total cases)

Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 174,522,025

 

Information and resources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/weekly-trends/#weekly_table

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/07/world/global-covid-death-toll-4-million-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Overseas Situation Report Wednesday 7th July 2021

 

By Mike Evans

“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” – John F. Kennedy

In this report we look at the impact the pandemic has had on the lives and education of the young across the world. We focus on the report by the WHO and what they feel needs to be done to bring children back into the classroom.

In a recent report published by the WHO, they recommended that schools should remain open for as long as possible with adequate public health and social measures in place, and governments should use the summer months to implement measures that protect in-person schooling in the next school year, This report was from an international group of experts established by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe, in its latest recommendations on schooling during Covid-19.

The updated recommendations come against the backdrop of rising infection rates in some countries in the Region, primarily due to the combination of the relaxation of public health and social measures, increased social mixing and vaccine inequity across the Europe.

“The summer months offer a valuable window of opportunity for governments to put in place the right set of measures that will help keep infection rates down and avoid resorting to school closures, which, as we have seen, have such a harmful effect on the education, social and mental well-being of our children and youth,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. “The spread of new variants, coupled with the presence of pockets of unvaccinated people in school settings, means that there is no time to lose. The time to act is now. We can’t allow the pandemic to rob children of their education and development.”

“Despite most countries offering remote learning, the learning loss and impact of not being in school have been challenging for children. This is particularly so for vulnerable and marginalized children. Over the past year, parents and caregivers have tried to adapt to their ‘new’ learning environment, but we can’t risk having another year of disruptions,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. “We need to work together throughout the summer to ensure that children can go back to school safely and catch up with their learning.”

“We must get out of the Covid-19 caused crisis in education and health with more resilient education and health care systems, and pursue ambitious goals to recover education and transform it so that every student learns better, has stronger social and emotional skills, better health and well-being,” said Tao Zhan, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO-IITE). “We have to act now. The future of this generation is at stake.”

The updated recommendations focus on eight key points affecting children and schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic:

1. The use of PCR or rapid diagnostic antigen tests in school settings;
2. The need for studies that assess the effectiveness of risk-mitigation measures on infection control;
3. The importance of safeguarding educational outcomes, mental and social well-being;
4. The need to account for children living in vulnerable situations;
5. Changes in the school environment that benefit child health and infection control;
6. The importance of including children in all decision-making;
7. Vaccination strategies in school settings; and
8. Keeping schools open as the key overarching objective.

School closures should be considered only as a measure of last resort, if and when “large outbreaks occur or transmission in the community cannot be controlled by any other measures,” the TAG members note in their recommendations.

Across the WHO European Region, the pandemic had a dire impact on schooling during the 2020-2021 academic year. UNESCO’s monitoring of national distance learning solutions shows that 44 out of 53 countries in the WHO European Region closed their schools at the national level at the height of the pandemic in April 2020.

School closures have serious effects on the education, development and well-being of children and adolescents. In addition to depriving them of the necessary social interactions that support and promote their mental well-being, school closures led to remote learning arrangements that did not offer the same educational outcomes. In addition, even in the best settings, socially disadvantaged children and those in greater need of educational support have fallen behind, increasing social inequity between and within countries.

While most countries reopened their schools at the end of summer 2020, rising infection rates in the autumn and winter months led to more stringent measures across dozens of countries, including, in some areas, the closure of schools. However, research carried out in some Member States during the winter months of 2020 shows that SARC-CoV-2 incidence among students was lower than in the general population, with secondary infections in schools accounting for less than 1% of infections.

According to the report, in the 2020 to 2021 academic year, we saw the largest disruption to education in history. With these recommendations, we now have the evidence and tools to ensure that children and young people can return to in-person schooling safely.

Covid-19 is reported less frequently in children than in adults. Transmission in education settings can be limited if effective mitigation and prevention measures are in place. In school settings across the WHO European Region, more outbreaks are reported in secondary and high schools than in primary schools (settings with children up to 10–12 years of age).

Outbreaks in schools that involve only staff members are also observed. Data suggests that children and adolescents are followers, not drivers, of the pandemic, with a slower dynamic in younger children. There is, to date, no evidence that in-school transmission is a significant driver of increasing infection levels. However, the emergence of new variants of Covid-19, which have been shown to have increased transmissibility, require an ongoing risk assessment-based approach with appropriate in-school mitigation measures a pre-requisite to keeping schools open.

While precautions must be taken to control the spread of Covid-19 in the community, including through school-based measures, a balance must be struck between imposing such measures and ensuring that children are able to continue learning and socializing to the greatest extent possible.

All infection control measures have the potential to have adverse effects on educational outcomes, mental health, social well-being and health-related behaviours. It therefore is necessary to consider carefully the positive and negative effects of implementing them. Evidence suggests that learning loss and falls in school enrolment rates due to lockdown, school closures and even distance learning is several times higher in schools in the most deprived areas compared to those in less deprived areas.

Schools deliver essential functions beyond education that cannot be delivered online, including the opportunity for real-life interactions with peers, which is essential for healthy development. Online teaching therefore remains a suboptimal alternative. In addition, there is evidence that more children are experiencing food insecurity due to lack of school meals, and levels of violence against children increase when staying home during lockdowns and school closures.

In general, data shows that the factors influencing the impact of Covid-19 on learning proficiency are: adapting teaching to the new context; protecting child nutrition; and maximizing contact time.

The report finishes with a list of recommendations which include the following:

When closing schools, countries need to guarantee uninterrupted substitute and adapted services for those normally delivered in the school setting, such as special needs education, health services and school meals, where possible;

Countries should secure sufficient support for teaching to be adapted to the new situation and context to minimize learning losses;

Countries should guarantee affordable access to devices and facilities required for online learning and teaching, including functioning Internet connections for schoolchildren and teachers, regardless of whether schools are closed or open, and making sure students and teachers have sufficient digital skills; and Countries should establish hotlines for children and adolescents seeking psychological support.

The pandemic is a temporary thing while the education of the young is something that affects everyone in the future. Without the educated to fill the roles of industry and commerce in the future everyone and every country will suffer.

Until the next time, Stay Safe.

Total Cases Worldwide – 185,393,558

Total Deaths Worldwide – 4,009,289

Total Recovered Worldwide – 169,736,766

Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,647,503 (6.3% of the total cases)

Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 173,746,055

Information and resources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/342075

 

Overseas Situation Report Monday 5th July 2021

 

By Mike Evans

“Life will not always be bitter, sometimes it will be sour, sweet and even tasteless. You just have to allow yourself savour every moment with the accompanying taste.” – Unknown

The world has come to hear of the “Delta” variant in the past few weeks as it is spreading across the globe. In this report, I am highlighting some of the stories surrounding this variant and what countries are trying to do to combat its spread to the population.

Firstly, we look at Sydney, Australia.

The country has been lauded for the way it has handled the pandemic, although some feel that the draconian measures of lockdown and closing down of the country to even residents overseas are too much for a democratic country. They were one of the first countries to use the policy of “Zero” Covid. It meant locking down early and isolating those with the virus for as long as it takes. This proved very successful at the start and they continued to use this strategy until the end of July 2020, when they decided to pursue a new line.

This was all about the vaccine and would lead to opening up the country again. However, the country has been slow to vaccinate and now the Delta variant is starting to outpace the vaccinations. There are signs that the virus is spreading despite the countries’ best efforts.

Three days after the emergence of a rare Covid-19 case in Sydney, around 40 friends gathered for a birthday party. Along with cake and laughter, there was a hidden threat: one of the guests had unknowingly crossed paths with that single Covid case, an airport driver who had caught the Delta variant from an American aircrew.

Two weeks later, 27 people from the party have tested positive, including a 2-year-old child, along with 14 close contacts. And the seven people at the gathering who were not infected? They were all vaccinated.

The party points to the immense challenge Australia now faces to its wildly successful policy of total Covid suppression. In a simple suburban setting, the vaccines and the highly contagious Delta variant went head-to-head, and because too few Australians have been immunized, the virus spread.

For Australia and every other nation pursuing a so-called “Covid Zero” approach, including China and New Zealand, the gathering in western Sydney amounts to a warning: Absent of blanket vaccinations, the fortress cannot hold without ever more painful restrictions.

According to Catherine Bennett, the Chair of Epidemiology at Deakin University in Melbourne. “This is the beginning of the end of Covid Zero. We may be able to get it under control this time, but it’s just going to be harder and harder.” The Delta mutation has already raced from Sydney across Australia, carried on flights and by people visiting schools, hospitals, hair salons and a mass vaccination hub. Half of the country’s 25 million people have been ordered to stay home as the caseload, now at around 200, grows every day. State borders are closed, and exasperation – another lockdown 16 months into the pandemic? – is intensifying.

It’s a sudden turn in a country that has spent most of the past year celebrating a remarkable achievement. With closed borders, widespread testing and efficient tracing, Australia has quashed every previous outbreak, even as almost every other country has lived with the virus’s unceasing presence, often catastrophically.

In Australia, no one has died from Covid-19 in all of 2021. While most capital cities in the world sheltered last year from a viral onslaught, Sydney and most of the country enjoyed full stadiums, restaurants, classrooms and theatres with “Hamilton.” That experience of normalcy – diminished only by a lack of overseas travel, occasional mask mandates and snap lockdowns – is what Australian politicians, from Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to local officials, are so desperate to defend. To them, keeping Covid out, whatever it takes, remains a winning policy. Last Friday, Australia doubled down on this approach, announcing that the trickle of a few thousand international arrivals allowed each week (and quarantined) would be cut by half.

Australia shut its borders to international arrivals for a year and opened up later than the rest of the world. This time around, most Australians were willing to accept isolation again, assuming it would keep them safe. Until Delta.

Now, public officials are scrambling to counter a variant they have labelled a ‘formidable foe’, as if it were a Marvel villain.

Contact tracers have found video footage showing one case of transmission in a Sydney department store, when the man who started the outbreak simply walked by someone else. Delivery drivers have also passed on the virus with brief interactions, and health officials have warned that, in most households, one person with Delta typically leads to infection for everyone. The variant has forced officials to move faster and harder with restrictions than before.

New South Wales avoided a full lockdown during previous Covid outbreaks, including a cluster last December that was curbed with three weeks of suburb-specific restrictions. This time, Gladys Berejiklian, the State Premier, tried a similar tactic, but found that Delta moved too quickly to be contained.

The variant is now in over 95 countries according to the WHO and is becoming the dominant virus.

In China, officials announced that they planned to build a giant quarantine centre in Guangzhou with 5,000 rooms to hold international travellers, due to come into use in September.

Across the globe, countries are racing against time to vaccinate their populations, with plans to reopen after lengthy lockdowns at risk. On Wednesday, France lifted its strict “deconfinement” after weeks of closures, granting the country a semblance of normality. All restrictions on theatres, cinemas, museums and sports venues were lifted on Wednesday, along with a return to full capacity in restaurants. In a boost for tourism, ports will also reopen to cruises and the Cannes Film Festival is gearing up to return in July.

Health experts warn that despite vaccinating more than 40 percent of its population with at least one dose, France may not be spared another spike in infections as the delta variant rages.

The French government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Jean-François Delfraissy, warned on Wednesday that France could face a fourth coronavirus wave this year, likely because of the Delta variant, which was first identified in India and now represents about 20 percent of cases in France.

If that happens, the government has said that it may need to reimpose regional restrictions, French Health Minister, Olivier Veran. told French radio on Tuesday.

Russia reported 669 coronavirus-related deaths nationwide on Wednesday, the most confirmed in a single day since the pandemic began, amid a surge in cases that authorities blame on the Delta variant. Moscow is pushing reluctant residents to get vaccinated.

In South Korea, which also had relative success in stemming outbreaks, the government is now finding that new control measures are necessary. Authorities said they would delay by a week the relaxation of social distancing rules in the capital, Seoul, and its neighbouring regions, due to a sudden increase in cases.

South Korea has inoculated close to 30 percent of its 52 million population with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Even secretive North Korea, which has never openly confirmed the existence of Covid-19 cases, saw leader Kim Jong Un this week chastise ruling party officials for failures in anti-epidemic work, that led to an unspecified “great crisis,” state media reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile South Africa on Sunday extended a nightly curfew and introduced a ban on gatherings, alcohol sales, indoor dining and some domestic travel for 14 days, to halt a worrying surge in cases driven by the Delta variant, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

In Bangladesh, the government pointed to a “dangerous and alarming” rise in Delta-related infections and halted all public transportation starting Monday, prompting thousands of migrant workers to flee the capital, Dhaka, before the restrictions took hold.

Thai authorities declared a month-long limited lockdown in the capital, Bangkok, and neighbouring provinces, amid a spike in new cases attributed to the Delta variant. Also, Malaysia extended a nationwide shutdown that was scheduled to be relaxed on Monday.

In Taiwan, which reported its first Delta case on Saturday, the local Centres for Disease Control announced new restrictions for people arriving from seven “high-risk countries”: Bangladesh, Britain, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel and Peru.

Hong Kong also said on Monday that it was banning all passenger flights from Britain beginning later this week, because of the growing number of new coronavirus cases and the “widespread Delta variant virus strain there,”

With more and more countries becoming aware of this new variant, it looks as though we are going to have to try and live with this for some time to come.

In the meantime, Stay Safe.

Total Cases Worldwide – 184,579,138

Total Deaths Worldwide – 3,993,651

Total Recovered Worldwide – 168,929,141

Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,656,346 (6.3% of the total cases)

Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 172,22,792

Information and resources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/delta-variant-threatens-plans-lift-pandemic-restrictions-across-world-n1272687

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/28/coronavirus-latest-updates/

 

Overseas Situation Report Friday 2nd July 2021

 

By Mike Evans

“Is it always to be a winners-losers world, or can we keep everyone in the game?” – Robert Fulghum

In today’s Overseas Report, we are looking at what has happened across the world. The World Health Organisation compiles enormous amounts of data from almost every country in the world, so this can give a good view of what is happening from a global perspective. Today, we are looking at data from the week up to the 29th June 2021.

In the past week, the number of new Covid-19 cases remained similar to the previous week, and the number of new deaths continued to decrease, with over 2.6 million new cases and 57,000 new deaths reported globally. This is the lowest weekly mortality figure since those recorded in early November 2020. Globally, Covid-19 incidence remains very high, with an average of over 370,000 cases reported each day over the past week. The cumulative number of cases reported globally now exceeds 180 million and the number of global deaths is almost 4 million. This week, the African region recorded a sharp increase in incidence (33%) and mortality (42%) when compared to the previous week. All Regions, with the exception of the African Region, reported a decline in the number of new deaths in the past week.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from Brazil (521,298 new cases; 3% increase), India (351,218 new cases; 12% increase), Colombia (204,132 new cases; 5% increase), the Russian Federation (134,465 new cases; 24% increase), and Argentina (131,824 new cases; 11% decrease). Over the past week, the highest numbers of new cases per 100,000 population were reported from Seychelles (708 new cases per 100,000 pop), Namibia (509 new cases per 100,000 pop) and Mongolia (491 new cases per 100,000 pop). Globally, cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in 172 countries, territories or areas (hereafter countries; two new countries in the past week), of Beta in 120 countries (one new country), Gamma in 72 countries (one new country) and Delta in 96 countries (11 new countries).

Now to look at the various regions and how they are faring.

First to the Africa Region – many countries in the African region continue to see increases in weekly case incidence and mortality. The Region reported over 177,000 new cases and over 2,700 new deaths, a 34% and a 42% increase respectively compared to the previous week. The weekly number of Covid-19 cases has been increasing sharply since 15th May. Since then, 76% of cases and 72% of reported deaths in the Region were from countries in Southern Africa.

Aside from South Africa (103,697 new cases; 174.8 new cases per 100,000 population; a 47% increase), the highest numbers of new cases in the Region were reported from Zambia (19,058 new cases; 103.7 new cases per 100,000; a 15% increase), and Namibia (12,944 new cases; 509.4 new cases per 100,000; a 71% increase). Mortality in the African Region continued to increase sharply with the countries reporting the highest numbers of new deaths per 100,000 population over the past week being Namibia (11 new deaths per 100,000), Botswana (7 deaths per 100,000) and Zambia (20 new deaths per 100,000).

Region of the Americas – this region reported over 1.1 million new cases and over 30,000 new deaths, similar to the previous week. The Region reported the highest number of new cases and deaths per 100,000 over the past week, when compared to the other regions (111 cases and 3 deaths per 100,000 population).

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from Brazil (521,298 new cases; 245.2 new cases per 100,000; a 3% increase), Colombia (204,132 new cases; 401.2 new cases per 100,000; a 5% increase), and Argentina (131,824 new cases; 291.7 new cases per 100,000; a 12% decrease). The highest numbers of new deaths per 100,000 population were reported from Paraguay (113 deaths per 100,000), Colombia (90 deaths per 100,000) and Argentina (83 deaths per 100,000) over the past week.

Eastern Mediterranean Region – this reported over 221,000 new cases, a 13% increase compared to the previous week. This increase in cases is the largest relative increase seen in the Region, since the end of March 2021. Over 3,400 new deaths were reported, a similar number with the previous week. The Region reported 30 new cases and 0.5 new deaths per 100,000 population over the past week.

The highest numbers of new cases per 100,000 population were reported from Oman (348 new cases per 100,000 pop), Kuwait (294 new cases per 100,000 pop) and Tunisia (189 new cases per 100,000 pop). The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Islamic Republic of Iran (857 new deaths; 1.0 new deaths per 100,000; a 9% decrease), Tunisia (619 new deaths; 5.2 new deaths per 100,000; an 18% increase), and Afghanistan (528 new deaths; 1.4 new deaths per 100,000; an 11% decrease).

European Region – here we find reported over 372,000 new cases, a 10% increase compared to the previous week, and over 6,400 new deaths, similar to the previous week. This is the first weekly increase in the number of cases reported by the Region after more than two months of a decreasing trend.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the Russian Federation (134,465 new cases; 92.1 new cases per 100,000; a 24% increase), the United Kingdom (96,843 new cases; 142.7 new cases per 100,000; a 55% increase), and Turkey (38,936 new cases; 46.2 new cases per 100,000; a 2% decrease).

The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Russian Federation (3,921 new deaths; 2.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 34% increase), Turkey (402 new deaths; 0.5 new deaths per 100,000; an 11% decrease), and Germany (369 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 33% decrease).

South-East Asia Region – this region reported over 573,000 new cases and over 13,000 new deaths, a 5% and a 33% decrease respectively compared to the previous week. Although there is a slight overall decrease in the number of cases reported this week, mostly due to the decrease in the number of cases reported in India, a number of countries, including Myanmar (112% increase), Indonesia (60% increase) and Bangladesh (48% increase), reported large increases in the number of newly reported cases for this week.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from India (351,218 new cases; 25.5 new cases per 100,000; a 21% decrease), Indonesia (125,395 new cases; 45.8 new cases per 100,000; a 60% increase), and Bangladesh (36,738 new cases; 22.3 new cases per 100,000; a 48% increase). The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (9,038 new deaths; 0.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 45% decrease), Indonesia (2,476 new deaths; 0.9 new deaths per 100,000; a 39% increase), and Bangladesh (624 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 45% increase).

Western Pacific Region – here we find reported over 116,000 new cases and over 1,800 new deaths, a 6% and a 13% decrease respectively compared to the previous week. The weekly number of newly reported cases has decreased over the past several weeks, after reaching a peak in mid-May.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the Philippines (38,684 new cases; 35.3 new cases per 100,000; a 14% decrease), Malaysia (37,347 new cases; 115.4 new cases per 100,000; a 4% decrease), and Mongolia (16,111 new cases; 491.4 new cases per 100,000; a 7% decrease).

The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Philippines (706 new deaths; 0.6 new deaths per 100,000; a 20% decrease), Malaysia (536 new deaths; 1.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 6% increase), and Japan (257 new deaths; 0.2 new deaths per 100,000; a 30% decrease).

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern – on 11th May 2021, the WHO designated Delta (B.1.617.2) as a variant of concern due to evidence of increased transmissibility.

The increase in the effective reproduction number compared with the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is estimated to be 55% (95% CI: 43–68).3 Given the increase in transmissibility, the Delta variant is expected to rapidly outcompete other variants and become the dominant variant over the coming months.

As of 29th June 2021, 96 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, though this is likely an underestimate as sequencing capacities needed to identify variants are limited. A number of these countries are attributing surges in infections and hospitalizations to this variant.

Coupled with the new variants, low vaccination coverage at the global level is also an issue. While more than 2.65 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered, the majority of these have been in a small number of high-income countries. The gap in vaccine administration between high- and low-income countries is starting to shrink due to the delivery of vaccines through the COVAX facility, but the majority of the world’s population still remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and at risk of developing Covid-19.

Many scientists are predicting a 4th “wave” of infections to come. Let’s hope that the vaccine programme gets sufficient coverage to alleviate the suffering if it does come.

Until the next time, Stay Safe.

Total Cases Worldwide – 183,195,092

Total Deaths Worldwide – 3,966,156

Total Recovered Worldwide – 167,723,456

Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,505,480 (6.3% of the total cases)

Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 171,689,612

 

Information and resources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/