Worldwide cases of COVID-19 increased by 8% compared to the previous week, amounting to more than 3.6 million new cases, while new deaths increased by 21% to more than 54,000, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
“This brings the cumulative numbers to more than 49.7 million reported cases and more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic,” the organization said.
The European region continues to be responsible for the majority of new cases and deaths in the last seven days after more than half (54%) of all new cases and almost half (47%) of additional deaths were reported.
‘Although it still accounts for only 2% of the total number of cases and deaths, the West Pacific region this week showed the largest relative increase in new cases (19%) compared to the previous week, followed by the Eastern Mediterranean region (18%) and the European region (11%). “
Meanwhile, Europe (44%), Africa (30%) and the eastern Mediterranean (23%) reported the three regions that have seen the highest proportional increase in deaths reported in the past seven days.
“The Western Pacific region was the only region to report a decrease in deaths (5%) this week compared to the previous week,” the WHO said.
The five countries that reported the most cases in the past week were the United States, France, India, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Africa
Africa reported nearly 34,000 new cases and 831 new deaths in the past week.
Meanwhile, the number of new deaths reported in the past week was 30% higher than in the previous week, mainly driven by increases in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.
“South Africa continues to report the highest number of new cases and deaths in the region, accounting for almost a third of the new cases and more than half of the new deaths,” the WHO said, adding that the number of new cases reported by South Africa peaked. mid-July, the peak of winter, when more than 86,000 cases were reported weekly.
“By September, South Africa had reported fewer than 15,000 cases per week, and in the past week almost 10,500 cases had been reported (176 new cases per million inhabitants).”
Meanwhile, deaths also declined from more than 1,500 deaths per week at the end of July and early August to 513 deaths reported in the past week, although 55% higher than in the previous week.
According to WHO, five provinces reported more than 80% of the cases on 31 October, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State.
The average age of COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 39 years, and 58% of the cases are female.
“The reason for this higher prevalence among women may be due to the fact that women are more represented in certain occupations in the education and health sector, where they may be at greater risk for infection, as well as differences in health-seeking behaviors,” said WHO.
Kenya reports the second highest number of weekly new cases in the African region.