Excluding microstates, Belgium recorded the most cases this week (992 per 100,000 inhabitants), ahead of the Czech Republic (818) and Luxembourg (643). Of the 24 countries with an incidence rate above 200, 22 are European.
New cases of coronavirus infection have continued to surge in Europe over the past seven days, remaining the epicentre of the epidemic. Below are the key developments over the past week, according to an AFP database.
While the number of identified cases is an important indicator, it reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections, and comparisons between countries are to be taken with a grain of salt, as testing policies differ from one country to another.
The pandemic has clearly picked up speed this week, with 476,000 new cases recorded in the world per day (a record), 20% more than the previous week, according to an assessment by AFP on Friday at 11am GMT.
It is once again Europe where the infection rate is accelerating the most (+40%). With 241,000 new cases per day (a 16-fold increase compared to some 15,000 at the beginning of July), Europe is by far the region with the highest number of infections, ahead of the United States/Canada (80,000 per day, +27%).
The trend points towards an acceleration in new recorded cases in the Middle East (+13%) and Latin America/Caribbean (+3%). The situation is slightly improving in Africa (-2%), more markedly in Asia (-15%), and Oceania (-20%).
Croatia is the country where the epidemic is accelerating the most (+90%, 2,000 new cases per day), among those having registered more than 1,000 cases daily during the past week. It is followed by Austria (+89%, 3,200), Slovenia (+88%, 1,900), Switzerland (+87%, 6,800), Sweden (+86%, 1,700), Bosnia-Herzegovina (+83%, 1,300), Bulgaria (+80%, 1,700), Italy (+79%, 21,600), and Germany (+75%, 12,700).
The largest decrease came in Israel (-54%, 600 new cases per day), a country that only recently came out of a lockdown, ahead of Nepal (-39%, 2,300), Ireland (-28%, 800), which went back into lockdown last week, India (-17%, 47,600), and the Philippines (-14%, 1,900).
The United States is the country with the highest number of new infections this week, with 77,200 new cases every day, ahead of India (47,600) and France (40,500). While the situation is improving in India (-17%), it is deteriorating in the United States (+27%), and especially in France (+50%).
Next come Brazil (24,400, +11%), the United Kingdom (22,100, +13%), Italy (21,600, +79%), and Spain (19,100, +28%).
The United States recorded the most deaths in the past week (809 per day), ahead of India (559), Brazil (438), Mexico (411), Argentina (355), Iran (352), Russia (294), and France (259).
The pandemic has caused at least 1,182,000 deaths worldwide since the end of December, with more than 45,1 million confirmed infections. The United States remains the country with the most deaths (at least 228,675), ahead of Brazil (158,969 deaths), and India (121,090).
