LONDON - The coronavirus pandemic is ebbing in some of the countries that were hit hard early on, but more than 100,000 new cases worldwide are being reported each day.
Twice as many countries have reported a rise in new cases over the past two weeks as have reported declines, according to a New York Times database.
The coronavirus pandemic is ebbing in some of the countries that were hit hard early on, but more than 100,000 new cases worldwide are being reported each day.
Twice as many countries have reported a rise in new cases over the past two weeks as have reported declines, according to a New York Times database.
The pandemic’s new direction — away from Western countries — is bad news for strongmen and populists who once reaped political points by vaunting low infection rates as evidence of the virtues of their leadership.
Over all, there have been more than 6.3 million reported cases worldwide and more than 380,000 known deaths. More than a quarter of all known deaths have been in the United States. But the geography of the pandemic is changing quickly.
The increases in some countries can be attributed to improved testing programs. But in many places, it appears that the virus has only now arrived with a wide scope and fatal force. Here is a look at some of the countries where the number of new cases has been doubling every two to three weeks.
The death toll in Brazil, Latin America’s largest country, passed 30,000 on Tuesday, when officials reported 1,262 deaths, which was the nation’s highest one-day total. Brazil now has more than half a million known cases, second only to the United States.
Peru has more than 170,000 confirmed cases, despite taking the virus seriously early on. The president, Martín Vizcarra, ordered one of the first national lockdowns in South America. Though the official virus death toll stands at around 5,000, Peru had 14,000 more deaths than usual in May, suggesting that a growing number of people are dying at home as hospitals struggle to handle a flood of cases.
The pandemic provoked an exodus from Lima, the capital, as people unable to work fled by bus, and even by foot, to family farms. It is widely expected that the number of new cases and of deaths will continue to rise in coming weeks as winter nears and the economy slowly reopens.
In Egypt, for example, where the rate of new confirmed infections doubled last week, the pandemic has created friction between President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and doctors who have revolted over a lack of protective equipment and training. Egypt seemed to avoid the worst of the pandemic. In early March, Egypt confirmed 45 cases on a Nile tour boat in the area, among both crew and passengers. But recently the number of cases there has been rising significantly, reaching 27,536 on Tuesday.
With more than 35,000 confirmed infections, the most in Africa, South Africa still has a growing number of new cases, despite enacting a strict lockdown in March that included a ban on the sale of tobacco and alcohol. The prohibition was lifted this month even though the total number of cases continued to rise.
Bangladesh now has 55,000 known cases. Its troubles were compounded last month by Cyclone Amphan, a deadly storm that tore through communities under lockdown. And this week, the country reported its first death from Covid-19 in a refugee camp: A 71-year-old Rohingya man who died while receiving treatment in an isolation center.
And in Brazil, the total death toll surpassed 32,000 on Thursday, with 1,349 deaths in a single day, dealing a further blow to President Jair Bolsonaro, who has continued to minimize the threat.
In other developments:
South Korea reported 39 new cases on Friday. Most were in and around Seoul, where a recent wave of infections has been traced to nightclubs and an e-commerce warehouse.
Thousands of people in Hong Kong flouted social distancing rules on Thursday as they gathered to memorialize the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The European Central Bank said it would step up its bond purchases by another 600 billion euros, to a total of 1.35 trillion euros.
Germany announced a package of tax cuts and other measures worth 130 billion euros.
Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, was suspended after a lawmaker said he had tested positive for the virus.
