As India prepares for a possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, global data shows that the situation here is better than countries like the United States.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), it was the United States which reported the maximum number of fresh coronavirus cases last week – a staggering 734,354. It represented a 35% increase in infections compared to the previous week.
The global health agency said in its weekly epidemiological report that though India was among the top five in terms of new COVID-19 cases reported, there was a 2% decline from the previous seven days.
US apart, Iran saw a big surge, with 248,102 cases over this period.
Brazil and Indonesia – which was the hotspot last month – are the other countries with a bigger number of new infections.
There was no change in the pattern of highest weekly infections and related deaths per capita region-wise. The Regions of Americas and Europe reported the highest weekly incidence of cases, while the Regions of Americas, Europe and South-East Asia saw the highest weekly incidence of deaths.
WHO’s weekly report also revealed that the Delta variant of coronavirus was reported from seven more countries last week. It takes the number of countries which are reporting the highly-transmissible variant of concern to 142.
