Global Covid-19 cases hit weekly record, topping 5.2 million
- India and Brazil in particular shouldering surging caseloads
- Record tally comes days after world surpassed 3 million deaths
More people were diagnosed with Covid-19 during the past seven days than any other week since the start of the pandemic - topping 5.2 million globally - with the worst outbreaks accelerating in many countries that are ill-equipped to deal with them.
The weekly increase surpassed the previous high set in mid-December. While infection rates have largely slowed in the US and UK, countries in the developing world - India and Brazil in particular - were shouldering surging caseloads.
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Global Covid-19 death toll passes three million mark
The global death toll is also resuming momentum. Fatalities have increased for the past month and were about 82,000 the week ended April 18, an average of almost 12,000 a day. That’s up from just over 60,000 in the week ended March 14, or about 8,600 a day, the most recent nadir.
India and Brazil are the two largest contributors in driving up cases globally - a race neither of them wants to win. Facing a sudden surge in coronavirus infections, India is once again home to the world’s second-largest outbreak, overtaking Brazil after the latter moved ahead in March. Hospitals from Mumbai to Sao Paulo are under increasing pressure as admissions continue to rise.
India and Brazil have so far administered doses equivalent to cover 4.5 per cent and 8.3 per cent of their populations respectively, compared with 33 per cent for US and 32 per cent in UK, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
But it’s not just developing nations that have seen recent setbacks in their efforts to tackle the pandemic. Rare cases of clotting seen in people who have taken vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have fueled the vaccine skepticism being faced by governments worldwide.
