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LONDON: Global coronavirus infections surpassed 50 million on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, with a second wave of the virus in the past 30 days accounting for a quarter of the total.
October was the worst month for the pandemic so far, with the United States becoming the first country to report more than 100,000 cases per day. An increase in Europe contributed to growth.
The latest seven-day average shows global daily infections are increasing by more than 540,000.
More than 1.25 million people have died from the respiratory disease that emerged in China late last year.
The recent acceleration of the pandemic has been ferocious. It took 32 days for the number of cases to rise from 30 million to 40 million. It only took 21 days to add another 10 million.
Europe, with about 12 million cases, is the most affected region, surpassing Latin America. Europe accounts for 24% of COVID-19 deaths.
The region has about 1 million new infections every three days or so, according to an analysis by Reuters. This is 51% of the global total.
France is recording 54,440 cases per day in the last seven-day average, a higher rate than India with a much larger population.
The second global wave is testing health systems across Europe, prompting Germany, France and Britain to order many citizens to return home.
Denmark, which has imposed a new blockade on its population in several northern areas, has ordered the culling of its 17 million mink after a coronavirus mutation found in animals spread to humans.
The United States, with around 20% of global cases, is facing its worst wave, recording more than 100,000 coronavirus cases per day in the last seven-day average, Reuters data showed. Saturday reported a record of over 130,000 cases.
The latest US wave coincided with the last month of campaigning in which President Donald Trump minimized the severity of the pandemic and his successful challenger, Joe Biden, urged a more science-based approach.
Trump’s demonstrations, some outdoors and with few masks and little social distancing, led to 30,000 additional confirmed cases and likely led to more than 700 deaths, Stanford University economists estimated in a research paper.
In Asia, India has the second-highest workload in the world, but has seen a steady slowdown since September despite the start of the Hindu festival season. Total cases exceeded 8.5 million cases on Friday and the daily average is 46,200, according to Reuters data.
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