Global coronavirus infections close to 33 million

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In the Central European region, Poland is considering reimposing some restrictions as it expects high daily numbers in new coronavirus cases to continue, the health ministry said after the country reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day on September 25.

It reported 1,587 new COVID-19 infections, the biggest daily number since the start of the pandemic in March.

The Czech Republic will also tighten restrictions on public activities and gatherings as the country struggles with a surge in novel coronavirus infections, it’s Health Minister Roman Prymula said. The country has reported 243.8 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, the fastest pace in Europe except for in Spain, according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Slovakia’s daily count of new coronavirus cases rose to 419, a fresh record, Prime Minister Igor Matovič said in a post on his Facebook profile on Friday.

As of Sunday evening, the Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) region has 527,736 registered cases caused by COVID-19 (there has still been no fresh data for Kosovo since August 25), compared to 466,166 a week ago, while 14,417 people had died (vs. 13,459), and 373,058 people have recovered (vs. 340,503).

Romania has the most cases as the number of infected people reached 122,673 (up from 111,550 a week earlier) and 4,718 people deaths, (vs. 4,402 a week ago).

Poland has 87,330 cases with 2,424 fatalities (vs. 79,240/2,432) followed by the Czech Republic 64,012/601 (vs. 48,306/499); Moldova 50,875/1,287 (vs. 46,333/1,201); Serbia 33,384/747 (vs. 32,840/740); Bosnia and Herzegovina 26,920/822 (vs. 25,217/758); Hungary 24,014/736 (vs. 17,990/683); Bulgaria 19,997/789 (vs. 18,819/755); North Macedonia 17,629/725 (vs. 16,557/689); Greece 17,444/379 (vs. 14,978/331); Croatia 16,197/272 (vs. 14,922/248); Albania 13,259/377 (vs. 12,226/358); Montenegro 10,313/158 (vs. 7,898/134); Slovakia 9,078/44 (vs. 6,677/39); Slovenia 5,350/147 (vs. 4,420/142); Lithuania 4,385/91 (vs. 3,744/87); Estonia 3,200/64 (vs. 2,924/64) and Latvia 1,676/36 (vs. 1,525/36).

Across the world there with 32.9 million confirmed cases in 188 countries. More than 995,000 people have lost their lives globally. As the global death toll nears one million, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned it could hit two million before an effective vaccine can be widely used. Dr Mike Ryan, the WHOʼs emergencies head, said the figure could be higher without concerted international action.

A number of regions have seen new coronavirus cases rise over the last few months, with India driving numbers in Asia. The official number of confirmed infections in India has almost reached 6 million, the second-highest in the world after the United States (over 7.3 million).

In Latin America, Brazil has the highest number of deaths, with more than 140,000 so far. It has recorded more than 4.6 million cases, the third highest in the world. 

(Sources: BBC, Worldometers.info, Johns Hopkins University)