Nearly two million new cases of coronavirus (+ 6%) were recorded last week, "the highest number of cases reported in a single week since the start of the epidemic".

The number of deaths, however, fell by 10% to 37,700, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday (September 22).

With the exception of Africa, all continents reported an increase in cases from September 14 to 20.

Over this period, Europe experienced the largest increase in deaths (+ 27% in one week).

The pandemic has killed more than 965,760 people worldwide since the end of December, and more than 31.3 million cases have been recorded.

The Americas, accounting for more than 38% of all new cases reported in the past week according to the WHO, remains the most affected, even though deaths have fallen by 22%.

More than 200,000 dead in the United States

In the United States, six weeks before the presidential election, the country crossed the symbolic mark of 200,000 dead on Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The benchmark toll from the Baltimore-based university showed 200,641 deaths on Tuesday at 11 p.m. GMT, out of an estimated 6.9 million cases in the country.

A mortality that several models had anticipated since August, and which will make the coronavirus the third cause of death in the United States this year.

After the United States, the countries most affected are Brazil with 138,108 deaths for 4,591,604 cases, India with 88,935 deaths (5,562,663 cases), Mexico with 73,697 deaths (700,580 cases), and the United Kingdom with 41,788 deaths (398,625 cases).

The United States records nearly a thousand deaths every day, which, compared to the population, is four times the European death rate.

This daily report, where black and Hispanic people are over-represented (more than half of the dead under the age of 65), is for Democratic candidate Joe Biden the symbol of the incompetence of Republican President Donald Trump in the face of the greatest ordeal of its mandate.

Umrah to resume in Saudi Arabia

In the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country on the continent, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced new restrictions: pubs and restaurants, in which only table service will be allowed, will close from 10 p.m. in England and telework will again be encouraged.

In Spain, one of the most affected European countries, severe restrictions came into effect Monday in part of the Madrid region, which has once again become the national epicenter of the pandemic.

Health Minister Salvador Illa on Tuesday called on all Madrilenians to limit their movements and contacts to "the essential".

At the same time, Spanish authorities on Tuesday reduced the quarantine to 10 days instead of 14 for people in contact with a confirmed case of the coronavirus, which is progressing in the country and in Europe.

Suspended since March due to Covid-19, Umrah, the small Muslim pilgrimage, will gradually resume from October 4, the Saudi Minister of the Interior announced on Tuesday.

In a first step, "6,000 citizens (Saudi) and residents (foreigners) of the kingdom will be allowed every day to do Umrah, from October 4," said the ministry in a statement released by the official Saudi press agency SPA.

With AFP

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