The world registered an average of more than 3 million daily cases of COVID-19 between January 13 and 19, a figure that has increased fivefold since the discovery of the omicron variant in late November, according to an AFP tally.
In the last seven days, an average of 3,095,971 daily cases were registered, an increase of 17% compared to the previous week.
The spread of the highly contagious omicron variant has caused a strong acceleration of the pandemic in recent weeks: the current figures are nearly 440% higher than the 569,000 daily cases registered on average between November 18 and 24, 2021, omicron detection day in South Africa and Botswana.
The current numbers are much higher than those achieved in previous waves of COVID-19 in the world. Before the appearance of omicron, the record was 816,840 daily cases on average between April 23 and 29, 2021.
The regions currently suffering the most significant increases in infections are Asia (385,572 daily cases on average in the last seven days, +68% compared to the previous week), the Middle East (89,900 daily cases, +57%) and Latin America and Caribbean (397,098 daily cases, +40%).
The number of deaths in the world is also on the rise (7,522 deaths on average in the last seven days, +11% compared to the previous week), a figure for the first time higher than the balances recorded at the end of November, at the time of the discovery of omicron (7,343 daily deaths between November 18 and 24).
Severe forms of the disease appear rarer with omicron than with delta, the previous dominant variant.
In the UK, for example, new infections rose more than 330% between the end of November and the beginning of January. During that period, the number of patients under mechanical ventilation did not increase.
These figures are based on the numbers communicated daily by the health authorities of each country. A significant portion of less severe or asymptomatic cases remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries. Also, testing policies differ from country to country.
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