Paris (AFP)

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to accelerate this week around the world, mainly driven by the United States / Canada zone: here are the significant weekly developments, taken from an AFP database.

An important indicator, however, the number of cases diagnosed only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections and comparisons between countries should be taken with caution, as testing policies differ from one country to another.

- Almost 650,000 daily cases -

With 645,400 contaminations recorded daily in the world this week, the indicator has accelerated (+ 5% compared to the previous week), according to an AFP report stopped on Thursday.

The pandemic has been gaining ground again for two months, fueled by a very contagious Delta variant and which has become the majority in many countries.

- Outbreak in North America -

This week, it is by far in the United States / Canada zone that the situation is deteriorating the fastest, with 31% more new cases compared to the previous week.

Preparation of Moderna vaccines against Covid-19, for administration to residents of Los Angeles, California, February 16, 2021 Apu GOMES AFP / Archives

The pandemic is also accelerating, but less rapidly, in the Middle East (+ 7%) and in Europe (+ 3%), it is stable in Africa and Asia, it is slowing down in the Latin America / Caribbean zone (-4%) and in Oceania (-31%).

- Stronger acceleration -

Azerbaijan is the country where the epidemic has accelerated the most (+ 111%, 1,700 new cases per day), among those having recorded at least 1,000 daily infections during the past week.

Switzerland (+ 76%, 1,500), Canada (+ 76%, 1,600) Israel (+ 52%, 4,600) and Lebanon (+ 48%, 1,600) follow.

- Strongest declines -

Conversely, it is the archipelago of Fiji (-47%, 600 new cases per day) which recorded the sharpest decline this week, ahead of Colombia (-36%, 5,000), Mozambique (-34 %, 1,100), Zimbabwe (-34%, 700) and Peru (-28%, 1,300).

- The most contaminations -

The United States remains the country with the highest number of new infections in absolute terms this week (129,400 daily cases, + 31%), ahead of India (37,900, -6%) and Iran (37,500, + 13%).

An Israeli caregiver prepares a dose of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on August 13, 2021, to Rishon Lezion AHMAD GHARABLI AFP

As a proportion of the population, the country with the most new cases this week is Georgia (746 per 100,000 inhabitants), ahead of Cuba (538) and Dominica (497).

- Death -

Indonesia has the highest number of daily deaths, with 1,613 deaths per day this week, ahead of Brazil (884) and Russia (791).

Globally, daily deaths increased slightly this week (9,540 per day, + 2%).

- Ecuador vaccinates at full speed -

Ecuador is this week the fastest vaccinating country among those with more than one million inhabitants, administering doses to 1.59% of its population each day.

Malaysia (1.42%), Sri Lanka (1.37%), Singapore (1.22%), Panama (1.20%), Turkey (1.15%) and Trinidad follow. Tobago (1.02%).

Teenager shows vaccination certificate after receiving doses of Pfizer-BioNTech in Quito, Ecuador on July 21, 2021 RODRIGO BUENDIA AFP

If they now vaccinate more slowly, the United Arab Emirates (175 doses administered per 100 inhabitants), Singapore (142), Israel (139), Denmark (137), Canada (136), Chile and Belgium (134 doses each), Spain (129), the United Kingdom (128) or China (127) are among the countries with the most advanced vaccination campaigns.

Some of these countries (Emirates, Israel, Chile) have started administering third doses.

This indicator can exceed 100 doses per 100 inhabitants since most vaccines in circulation require two doses to be fully effective.

© 2021 AFP