“Nearly a year after this pandemic began, this unparalleled national effort has decisively shifted the odds in our favour. We no longer have to rely simply on lockdowns. With every day that goes by, this program of vaccinations is creating a shield around the entire population, which means that we are now traveling on a one-way road to freedom and we can begin safely to restart our lives and do it with confidence.”
The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic did not bring a change in terms of new infections: In January most cases are still registered in the USA (6.3 million), followed by Brazil (1.6 million) and – back in the Top 3 again – the UK (1.3 million).
February saw only a slight shift, with the USA and Brazil keeping their top places – with 2.5 million and 1.3 million new cases respectively and France (550 thousand) moving up into the top 3. The numbers of new infections go considerably down in the countries with the fastest vaccination roll-out: the numbers for the US halved and the UK has only a quarter of the numbers from just the month before. Indonesia and Czech Republic are new in the top 10.
The highest numbers of deaths are registered in the USA (69,832), followed by Brazil (30,169) and Mexico (27,895), so no changes to January 2021. Peru’s numbers doubled (18,401), while the UK’s and Germany’s numbers of deaths almost halved.
Read more on the chronology of the pandemic in our blog.
