After the initial outbreak in China, our coverage of Coronavirus has focused on the United States (31 million cases), where we are based, and Europe, which has had a terrible outbreak (44.2 million cases). Lately, the extent of the infections in Brazil (13 million cases) has made the news. Now, we learn that Latin America and the Caribbean have surpassed 25 million cases. Their death toll is second only to Europe.
In Europe, things are especially bad in the Czech Republic, where the lockdowns and curfews remind many older residents of the repression they suffered under the Communist regime. The country reportedly has the highest number of deaths per 100,000 residents in the world.
U.S. Numbers
In the U.S., the number of new cases ticked up slightly but then appears to level off for most of this week with the 14-day average at about 65,000 new cases reported per day. Deaths remain at their lowest level since November and hospitalizations are flat at around 40,000.
In the past 24 hours, there were only 36,670 cases reported and 277 deaths. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 were are 40,740. Michigan has now become the new hotspot for COVID-19 in the U.S. with new cases being reported at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country. Six of the worst hit metro areas are in Michigan.
Despite leveling off, rather than continuing to drop, many states are undergoing re-openings and travel is picking up as more and more people get vaccinated. Close to a third of Americans have had at least one dose and more than 18 percent are fully vaccinated.
To put that in perspective, only 7.6 percent of Brazilians have had at least one shot. That number falls to 6 percent for Mexico. In Europe, France is just over 13 percent while Italy, Spain, and Germany are at 12 percent. Meanwhile Russia and India are both under 5 percent. On the other end of the Spectrum, more than 46 percent of people in the UK and more than 60 percent of Israelis have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Global Numbers
Here’s a look at the 20 countries with the most reported cases and the growth they have seen in new infections over the past week.
On this week’s chart, Turkey moved up one spot, replacing Spain as the country with the eighth-most reported cases. Poland took over number 11, jumping past both Columbia and Argentina. Peru and Czechia also move up a slot while South Africa dropped two to number 19.
The rate of new cases jumped the most rapidly in India, Turkey, and Iran while the lowest numbers belong to the UK and South Africa. The United States remained steady at 1.5 percent growth.
Not shown on the chart, Canada and Chile have both surpassed the 1 million mark, bringing the total number of countries with more than one million reported cases of COVID-19 to 23.
