Record numbers in France
On Saturday, France registered 17,565 positive cases, compared to 15,674 on Friday. A week prior the count stood at roughly 14,000 new cases. A total of 190 more deaths were recorded in hospitals on Saturday compared to the previous day, amounting to 60,418 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
The recent spike in cases appears particularly acute in the region Grand-Est, which borders Luxembourg. According to the latest figures from the regional health agency, there are 202 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in this area, which is considerably more than the average rate in France which stands at 127.
However, there is a silver lining. The number of patients on intensive care units is slowly decreasing as is the positivity rate.
Nevertheless the authorities are looking anxiously at the upcoming Christmas break, fearing another significant uptick in cases due to increased indoor social gatherings.
Record fatalities in Germany
Since the start of the pandemic 9 months ago, the number of weekly deaths has never been higher than this week in Germany. Daily fatalities almost reached 1,000 cases this week, though the latest figures account for just 409 deaths.
However, this takes the average fatalities for this week to over 609 per day, which is a significant increase compared to the first wave of the pandemic when the highest daily average over one week was 233 casualties.
Spike in cases in Belgium, too
Belgium has not been spared a surge in cases, either. According to the Sciensano Institute of Public Health, there was an average of 2,535 new cases per day across the country between 10 and 16 December, an increase of 15% more than the previous week.
Besides this considerable uptick in positive cases in Belgium, hospitalisations were up by 4% and fatalities up by 2%.
Belgium is amongst the most severely hit countries in the pandemic, registering the highest rate of fatalities per inhabitants. This tally stands at 159 deaths per 100,000 people, which is followed by Italy (112), Peru (112) and Slovenia (109).
