Overseas Situation Report Friday 2nd July 2021
By Mike Evans
“Is it always to be a winners-losers world, or can we keep everyone in the game?” – Robert Fulghum
In today’s Overseas Report, we are looking at what has happened across the world. The World Health Organisation compiles enormous amounts of data from almost every country in the world, so this can give a good view of what is happening from a global perspective. Today, we are looking at data from the week up to the 29th June 2021.
In the past week, the number of new Covid-19 cases remained similar to the previous week, and the number of new deaths continued to decrease, with over 2.6 million new cases and 57,000 new deaths reported globally. This is the lowest weekly mortality figure since those recorded in early November 2020. Globally, Covid-19 incidence remains very high, with an average of over 370,000 cases reported each day over the past week. The cumulative number of cases reported globally now exceeds 180 million and the number of global deaths is almost 4 million. This week, the African region recorded a sharp increase in incidence (33%) and mortality (42%) when compared to the previous week. All Regions, with the exception of the African Region, reported a decline in the number of new deaths in the past week.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from Brazil (521,298 new cases; 3% increase), India (351,218 new cases; 12% increase), Colombia (204,132 new cases; 5% increase), the Russian Federation (134,465 new cases; 24% increase), and Argentina (131,824 new cases; 11% decrease). Over the past week, the highest numbers of new cases per 100,000 population were reported from Seychelles (708 new cases per 100,000 pop), Namibia (509 new cases per 100,000 pop) and Mongolia (491 new cases per 100,000 pop). Globally, cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in 172 countries, territories or areas (hereafter countries; two new countries in the past week), of Beta in 120 countries (one new country), Gamma in 72 countries (one new country) and Delta in 96 countries (11 new countries).
Now to look at the various regions and how they are faring.
First to the Africa Region – many countries in the African region continue to see increases in weekly case incidence and mortality. The Region reported over 177,000 new cases and over 2,700 new deaths, a 34% and a 42% increase respectively compared to the previous week. The weekly number of Covid-19 cases has been increasing sharply since 15th May. Since then, 76% of cases and 72% of reported deaths in the Region were from countries in Southern Africa.
Aside from South Africa (103,697 new cases; 174.8 new cases per 100,000 population; a 47% increase), the highest numbers of new cases in the Region were reported from Zambia (19,058 new cases; 103.7 new cases per 100,000; a 15% increase), and Namibia (12,944 new cases; 509.4 new cases per 100,000; a 71% increase). Mortality in the African Region continued to increase sharply with the countries reporting the highest numbers of new deaths per 100,000 population over the past week being Namibia (11 new deaths per 100,000), Botswana (7 deaths per 100,000) and Zambia (20 new deaths per 100,000).
Region of the Americas – this region reported over 1.1 million new cases and over 30,000 new deaths, similar to the previous week. The Region reported the highest number of new cases and deaths per 100,000 over the past week, when compared to the other regions (111 cases and 3 deaths per 100,000 population).
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from Brazil (521,298 new cases; 245.2 new cases per 100,000; a 3% increase), Colombia (204,132 new cases; 401.2 new cases per 100,000; a 5% increase), and Argentina (131,824 new cases; 291.7 new cases per 100,000; a 12% decrease). The highest numbers of new deaths per 100,000 population were reported from Paraguay (113 deaths per 100,000), Colombia (90 deaths per 100,000) and Argentina (83 deaths per 100,000) over the past week.
Eastern Mediterranean Region – this reported over 221,000 new cases, a 13% increase compared to the previous week. This increase in cases is the largest relative increase seen in the Region, since the end of March 2021. Over 3,400 new deaths were reported, a similar number with the previous week. The Region reported 30 new cases and 0.5 new deaths per 100,000 population over the past week.
The highest numbers of new cases per 100,000 population were reported from Oman (348 new cases per 100,000 pop), Kuwait (294 new cases per 100,000 pop) and Tunisia (189 new cases per 100,000 pop). The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Islamic Republic of Iran (857 new deaths; 1.0 new deaths per 100,000; a 9% decrease), Tunisia (619 new deaths; 5.2 new deaths per 100,000; an 18% increase), and Afghanistan (528 new deaths; 1.4 new deaths per 100,000; an 11% decrease).
European Region – here we find reported over 372,000 new cases, a 10% increase compared to the previous week, and over 6,400 new deaths, similar to the previous week. This is the first weekly increase in the number of cases reported by the Region after more than two months of a decreasing trend.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the Russian Federation (134,465 new cases; 92.1 new cases per 100,000; a 24% increase), the United Kingdom (96,843 new cases; 142.7 new cases per 100,000; a 55% increase), and Turkey (38,936 new cases; 46.2 new cases per 100,000; a 2% decrease).
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Russian Federation (3,921 new deaths; 2.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 34% increase), Turkey (402 new deaths; 0.5 new deaths per 100,000; an 11% decrease), and Germany (369 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 33% decrease).
South-East Asia Region – this region reported over 573,000 new cases and over 13,000 new deaths, a 5% and a 33% decrease respectively compared to the previous week. Although there is a slight overall decrease in the number of cases reported this week, mostly due to the decrease in the number of cases reported in India, a number of countries, including Myanmar (112% increase), Indonesia (60% increase) and Bangladesh (48% increase), reported large increases in the number of newly reported cases for this week.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from India (351,218 new cases; 25.5 new cases per 100,000; a 21% decrease), Indonesia (125,395 new cases; 45.8 new cases per 100,000; a 60% increase), and Bangladesh (36,738 new cases; 22.3 new cases per 100,000; a 48% increase). The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (9,038 new deaths; 0.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 45% decrease), Indonesia (2,476 new deaths; 0.9 new deaths per 100,000; a 39% increase), and Bangladesh (624 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 45% increase).
Western Pacific Region – here we find reported over 116,000 new cases and over 1,800 new deaths, a 6% and a 13% decrease respectively compared to the previous week. The weekly number of newly reported cases has decreased over the past several weeks, after reaching a peak in mid-May.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the Philippines (38,684 new cases; 35.3 new cases per 100,000; a 14% decrease), Malaysia (37,347 new cases; 115.4 new cases per 100,000; a 4% decrease), and Mongolia (16,111 new cases; 491.4 new cases per 100,000; a 7% decrease).
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from the Philippines (706 new deaths; 0.6 new deaths per 100,000; a 20% decrease), Malaysia (536 new deaths; 1.7 new deaths per 100,000; a 6% increase), and Japan (257 new deaths; 0.2 new deaths per 100,000; a 30% decrease).
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern – on 11th May 2021, the WHO designated Delta (B.1.617.2) as a variant of concern due to evidence of increased transmissibility.
The increase in the effective reproduction number compared with the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is estimated to be 55% (95% CI: 43–68).3 Given the increase in transmissibility, the Delta variant is expected to rapidly outcompete other variants and become the dominant variant over the coming months.
As of 29th June 2021, 96 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, though this is likely an underestimate as sequencing capacities needed to identify variants are limited. A number of these countries are attributing surges in infections and hospitalizations to this variant.
Coupled with the new variants, low vaccination coverage at the global level is also an issue. While more than 2.65 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered, the majority of these have been in a small number of high-income countries. The gap in vaccine administration between high- and low-income countries is starting to shrink due to the delivery of vaccines through the COVAX facility, but the majority of the world’s population still remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and at risk of developing Covid-19.
Many scientists are predicting a 4th “wave” of infections to come. Let’s hope that the vaccine programme gets sufficient coverage to alleviate the suffering if it does come.
Until the next time, Stay Safe.
Total Cases Worldwide – 183,195,092
Total Deaths Worldwide – 3,966,156
Total Recovered Worldwide – 167,723,456
Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,505,480 (6.3% of the total cases)
Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 171,689,612
Information and resources: