Paris (AFP)

On January 11, the first death from the coronavirus was officially recorded in China.

Eight months later, the disease detected in December 2019 in Wuhan caused more than a million deaths, with a curve that started to rise again in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, led by India.

- 1,000 deaths in the first month

Sars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the Covid-19 disease, is first spreading rapidly in China, especially in Wuhan province.

In one month, the country recorded more than a thousand deaths, a toll already heavier than that of SARS, another acute respiratory syndrome which had raged in Asia in 2002-2003 (774 deaths recorded in total).

The virus is rapidly circulating outside mainland China: the Philippines records their first death on February 2, Hong Kong two days later, then Japan and France on February 13 and 14.

- Runaway in Europe and the United States, black April

In February, the spread of the virus gets carried away.

On March 11, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus a "pandemic", 30 countries and territories recorded a total of 4,500 deaths, two-thirds of which in China, but Italy (800 dead), Iran (300 dead) see their number of cases, and soon of deaths, soar.

Until mid-April, the death curve grew rapidly in Europe and the United States, reaching peaks of more than 4,000 and 2,700 deaths per day on average in the second week of April, respectively.

Today, the United States remains the most affected country in total number of deaths, with more than 204,000.

Globally, the deadliest week is recorded from April 13 to 19: more than 7,400 victims every day and a total of deaths which then reached nearly 170,000, or double the figure recorded on March 31.

- June: Latin America new epicenter

The Latin America and the Caribbean zone in turn becomes the epicenter of the pandemic in June.

From July 15, the region experiences a long plateau with an average of 2,500 daily deaths recorded until August 15.

This figure then slowly decreases, reaching over 2,000 deaths on average every day last week.

Brazil is, after the United States, the country which records the most deaths in total (more than 141,000).

Compared to their population, Peru (975 deaths per million inhabitants), Bolivia (671), Brazil (667), Chile (661) and Ecuador (639), are all among the 10 most most affected in the world, alongside European countries such as Belgium (861) or Spain (668).

- September: new wave?

In Asia, where the death toll had been less than 100 daily deaths until mid-April, the increase has since continued.

The continent has regularly exceeded 1,000 deaths per day since July 20.

Today it is approaching 1,500, led by India.

(94,500 deaths in total, more than 1,100 per day last week).

The curve of cases is starting again in Europe, with an increase this week of 20% on average compared to the previous one.

Deaths are also increasing (640 per day, + 11%) reinforcing the fear of a second wave.

The death toll is also on the rise in the Middle East (around 330 last week, + 7% compared to the previous one).

- Africa and Oceania apart

According to official statistics, Africa is today one of the two continents most spared: deaths there have been decreasing since August (less than 200 per day in mid-September after a peak, at some 400 in early August).

The same goes for Oceania, where the number of daily deaths has never exceeded twenty on average.

Globally, the curve has been on a "plateau" since early June, with between 5,000 and 6,000 people officially killed by the disease every day.

© 2020 AFP