Ómicron causes record number of coronavirus infections in the world in a week, but deaths fall

The world recorded a record of cases of coronavirus covid-19 in the last seven days, with an average of more than 935,000 infections detected per day from December 22 to 28, according to an AFP count made from official balances

These figures, the highest since the start of the pandemic at the end of 2019, are based on the numbers reported daily by the health authorities of each country. A significant part of less severe or asymptomatic cases remains undetected, despite the intensification of testing in many countries. Also, testing policies differ from country to country.

With 6,550,000 cases registered between December 22 and 28, or 935,863 per day on average, the virus is currently circulating at an unprecedented speed, significantly higher than the previous record, reached between April 23 and 29 (then it was had registered 817,000 daily cases).

The infections identified, which have increased worldwide since mid-October, have increased by 37% in the last seven days compared to the previous week.

“The rapid growth is probably linked to a combination between the loss of immunity and the intrinsic increase in the transmissibility of the omicron variant”, The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, warning of the “very high” risk posed by this particularly contagious variant.

For now, in the last seven days, there have been an average of 6,450 new deaths per day, the lowest figure since the end of October 2020. At the height of the pandemic, between January 20 and 26, 2021, 14,800 deaths were recorded daily.

Currently, the majority of new infections occur in Europe, where there have been more than 3.5 million cases in the last seven days, or more than 510,000 on average per day. This level is also unprecedented: in previous waves, the region never registered more than 300,000 cases a day.

In two years since the discovery of the virus, more than 282 million cases have been officially detected worldwide and more than 5.4 million deaths. According to the WHO, the number of deaths related to covid-19 could be two to three times higher, taking into account the increase in mortality directly or indirectly related to the virus.

________________________________