THE world hit a record number of Covid-19 cases in a seven-day period, with more than 935,000 cases detected on average each day between December 22 and 28, according to an AFP tally.

The figures, the highest since the virus first emerged at the end of 2019, are based on tolls given by health authorities in each country.

A large share of the less serious or asymptomatic cases remain undetected despite ramped up testing in many countries since the pandemic started.

Also, testing policy varies from one country to another.

With 6.55 million cases registered between December 22 and 28 – or an average of 935,863 a day – the virus is spreading at unprecedented speed.

The previous record between April 23 and 29, when an average of 817,000 cases were registered a day, is significantly lower than the current record.

The detected infections, which have been rising globally since mid-October, have increased by 37% over the preceding seven days.

“The rapid growth rate is likely a combination of both immune evasion and intrinsic increased transmissibility of Omicron,” said the World Health Organisation yesterday.

“The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high.”

For now, the surge in cases has not led to an increase in deaths worldwide, which have been on the decline for the last three weeks.

About 6,450 fresh fatalities a day have been recorded on average in the last seven days, the lowest since the end of October.

At the height of the pandemic, 14,800 daily deaths were recorded between January 20 and 26.

Most of the new infections are currently occurring in Europe, where more than 3.5 million cases have been recorded in the last seven days, or more than 510,000 on average each day.

The level is also unprecedented, as the continent never recorded more than 300,000 cases per day in previous waves.

In the two years since the virus was discovered, more than 282 million Covid-19 cases have been officially detected worldwide, with more than 5.4 million deaths.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the World Health Organisation estimates the overall death toll can be two to three times higher. – AFP, December 29, 2021.