The new weekly death toll is the lowest recorded since October 31-November 6, 2020 (Representational)
Paris:
The weekly number of coronavirus deaths worldwide has fallen to levels unseen for almost a year, according to AFP calculations on Monday based on official national figures.
The 53,245 deaths recorded worldwide between September 27 and October 3, an average of 7,606 each day, showed that the global pandemic is continuing the decline that began in late August after a peak of about 10,000 deaths per day.
The new weekly death toll is the lowest recorded since October 31 – November 6, 2020.
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 has dropped by almost a quarter in the past month, as the vaccination campaign progresses.
After a year of coronavirus waves, particularly linked to the spread of variants including the more infectious Delta strain, the curve of new cases is also about a third lower than it was at the end of August.
With around 81 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per 100 residents worldwide, according to an AFP count, officials expect this decline to continue, even though there are still large disparities between regions.
A dose of 123 vaccines is given for every 100 residents of North America. According to the World Health Organization’s Africa Office, the figure for Africa is 11 doses per 100 people, with half the continent’s nations managing to fully vaccinate only two percent of their people.
Since the virus was first discovered in China in late 2019, around 4.8 million people have died from COVID-19 worldwide.
The WHO has said that the actual total toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than the official record, taking into account the high mortality rates directly and indirectly linked to COVID-19.
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