The world has surpassed 253 million cases; 10 EU countries have serious outbreaks

According to statistics from the website worldometers.info, updated at 6:00 a.m. on November 13 (Vietnam time), the total number of cases of acute respiratory infection (COVID-19) worldwide is 253,131,192, including 5,102,441 deaths. A new normal life is coming to people in many countries as the epidemic situation tends to ease. Many more countries have reopened, but the risk of a resurgence of the epidemic still threatens some countries.

Over the past few days, the number of daily cases and deaths has continued to trend sideways globally, with the “hottest” epidemic areas being in Asia and Eastern Europe. The epidemic is resurging in Europe as the number of new cases has increased sharply in many countries on this continent.

Many countries have seen outbreaks of the new variant, such as the US, UK, Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye, and the number of new cases remains high. In the past day, the US had the highest number of new cases, while the highest number of new deaths in the world occurred in Russia (over 1,200 cases).

After nearly 2 years, the pandemic has appeared and spread to 221 countries and territories. Countries have also recorded over 228 million cured patients, over 19 million active cases and over 77,000 cases in critical condition. On November 12, 121 countries and territories recorded new COVID-19 cases; 97 countries/territories had deaths due to the disease.

As the COVID-19 vaccination rate continues to increase, many countries around the world are adjusting their pandemic prevention and control strategies, moving from “zero COVID-19” to “living with COVID-19”. However, the emergence of new variants is slowing down the “new normal” process in some countries.

The most severely affected country is still the United States with 782,000 deaths out of a total of over 47,700,000 cases. Next is India with 462,690 deaths out of 34,414,186 cases. In terms of population, Peru has the highest death rate, with 608 deaths per 100,000 people. Next is Bosnia-Herzegovina with 363 people and the Republic of North Macedonia with 350 people per 100,000 people.

By region, Latin America and the Caribbean now has more than 1.5 million deaths from more than 46.2 million COVID-19 cases. Europe has more than 77.7 million COVID-19 cases, including more than 1.4 million deaths. Asia has more than 1.1 million deaths from more than 80.4 million cases. North America has more than 1.1 million deaths from more than 57.2 million cases. Africa has more than 220,800 deaths, while Oceania has more than 3,900 deaths.

Also on November 12, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that the country had 2,368 new infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 390,719. This is the third consecutive day that the number of new infections per day in Korea has increased by more than 2,300 cases.

According to the KDCA, South Korea also recorded 18 more deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 3,051. The current fatality rate is 0.78%. In addition to the number of new infections in South Korea continuing to increase, health officials are also concerned about the number of critical cases also rising to an all-time high after restrictions were eased.

The number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition recorded on November 12 increased to 475, the KDCA said. As of November 12, South Korea had vaccinated at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 41.82 million people, equivalent to 81.4% of the country's population, of which 39.84 million people (77.6%) had received two doses. South Korea plans to fully vaccinate 80% of the population by mid-December.

Medical staff treat a COVID-19 patient at a hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo: AFP/ VNA

In Europe, from November 13, pubs, restaurants and shops providing non-essential services and goods in the Netherlands will have to close at 7pm every day. This regulation will be in effect for at least 3 weeks.

The Dutch government said this is part of a lockdown expected to be announced on November 12 to control the current rising COVID-19 epidemic. This will also be the first time since summer that the Netherlands has imposed a partial lockdown to cope with the COVID-19 epidemic, as Europe faces a fourth wave of COVID-19 in the winter. Under the new regulations, people will be advised to work from home as much as possible, while sporting events will not be open to spectators in the coming weeks.

According to the Dutch health agency, the number of new infections in the country has increased rapidly after the Netherlands lifted social distancing measures in late September 2021. In the past 24 hours, the country recorded 16,300 new infections, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 17.5 million.

Medical staff take COVID-19 test samples from people in Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany on July 30, 2021. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the positive PCR test rate in Germany was 16.03% in the week from November 1 to 7 - an unprecedented high since the beginning of the pandemic, and a sharp increase compared to the 12.2% recorded the previous week. In the past 24 hours, Germany recorded 49,162 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 4.911 million. The number of deaths also increased by 212, bringing the total to 97,244. In the context of the increasingly complicated epidemic situation, the RKI urgently recommends canceling or avoiding large events with large crowds, as well as minimizing unnecessary contact.

The German government has also added Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary to the list of high-risk countries. Accordingly, from November 14, people from these countries coming to Germany will have to quarantine, except for those who have been fully vaccinated or have antibodies after having COVID-19. Unvaccinated people must quarantine for 10 days, but may not need to complete this quarantine period if they have a negative test result when tested after the first 5 days of quarantine.

On November 12, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that the country has established a transition period from now until February 1, 2022 for COVID-19 vaccination.

According to the VNA correspondent in Moscow, during this transition period, Russians will be able to participate in public events, go to restaurants and non-food stores not only with a QR code confirming vaccination or previous COVID-19 infection, but also with a negative PCR test. Ms. Golikova noted: “Until February 1 of next year, in addition to QR codes in stores, restaurants and at public events, it will be possible to present a negative PCR test or a medical certificate, after which only a medical certificate will be required.” After February 1, 2022, PCR certificates will be abolished.

The Russian government has submitted to the State Duma (lower house) a bill on the use of QR codes in non-food stores, restaurants, cultural establishments and at public events. The decision on the use of QR codes and the list of establishments will be made by local authorities. The QR code system is expected to operate until June 1, 2022. According to statistics website worldometers.info, as of 2:00 a.m. on November 13 (Vietnam time), Russia recorded a total of 8,992,595 people infected with COVID-19, including 252,926 deaths.

The European disease control agency said on November 12 that the COVID-19 epidemic situation continues to worsen in the European Union (EU), with 10 countries considered "very worrying".

In its risk assessment summary of the epidemic situation in Europe, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) highlighted that the current epidemiological situation in the EU is marked by a rapid and significant increase in cases and a low case fatality rate. The ECDC said that the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths is expected to increase over the next two weeks.

Among the 27 EU member states, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia are on the “very concerned” list. Belgium, Finland, Liechtenstein and Poland all reported high numbers of cases this week.

Thirteen countries are currently on the “worry” list: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ireland and Latvia. Cyprus, France and Portugal are in the third group, “moderately worrying”, and Malta, Spain, Italy and Sweden are in the final group.

Spraying disinfectant in school areas in Phu Tho province. Photo: Trung Kien - VNA

According to statistics website worldometers.info, by November 12, ASEAN member countries recorded 24,358 COVID-19 cases and 387 deaths. The total number of people infected in ASEAN since the beginning of the epidemic has exceeded 13,520,000 cases, of which 283,526 people have died.

The pandemic situation in Southeast Asia, after a few weeks of cooling down, has been trending sideways in the past few days. The number of deaths is generally decreasing slightly or not increasing across the bloc, with only the Philippines seeing the number of deaths remaining above 100. The pandemic tends to appear evenly across countries, instead of being concentrated in a few hot spots like a few months ago.

Over the past day, the ASEAN association has 8 member countries recording new deaths due to COVID-19: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam.