Covid-19: Spread Of Virus Is Slowing

The spread of the virus around the world has slowed slightly this week, but is still rising fast in South America

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Nov, 2020 ) :The spread of the virus around the world has slowed slightly this week, but is still rising fast in South America.

A weekly roundup from AFP's specialised database: - Big drop in Europe - While Europe remains the centre of the pandemic, with an average of 236,900 new case daily -- far ahead of the US and Canada's 174,000 a day -- the rise in infections is slowly sharply.

For the second week in a row they slid, falling back 10 percent with many countries in lockdown.

But Europe is the only continent where new cases are clearly dropping, according to an AFP tally up to 1100 GMT Friday.

While infections are stable in the US and Canada, Africa and the middle East, they are up a tenth in Latin America and the Caribbean and 13 percent in Asia.

While there were only 24 new cases a day in Oceania, that was a rise of 64 percent on last week.

- Biggest rises - Infections have rocketed in Mexico, up 113 percent over the week to an average of 8,400 new cases a day.

Turkey saw the world's second biggest rise, up 76 percent, followed by Azerbaidjan (60 percent up) and Serbia (45 percent). Japan and South Africa all saw a 27 percent increase.

The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, as different countries have different counting practices and levels of testing.

- Biggest falls - The biggest falls were all in Europe, with France down nearly a half, Belgium (-37 percent), Switzerland down one third and Spain and the UK down around quarter.

All five countries have imposed lockdowns or very strict restrictions.

- US has most cases... - The US had the highest number of new cases this week with an average of 168,700 a day ahead of India (44,000) and Brazil (31,800). While flatlining in the US, infections rose steeply in India (up 12 percent), Brazil (11 percent) and Russia, by a tenth.

Georgia topped the global the table this week of per capita cases with 642 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, with Balkan states Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia coming up behind.

- ...And deaths too -In terms of deaths, the US is still by far the worst hit country with 1,571 par a day -- more than twice that of second-placed Italy (711 a day) and Mexico (591), France (547), India (521) and Poland (497).

The US also still heads the overall death toll with 263,462, followed by Brazil with 171,460; India with 135,715; Mexico with 104,242; and the United Kingdom with 57,031.