Weekly COVID-19 Cases Hit Record High Despite Vaccines

Despite the increased vaccination rates across the world, weekly COVID-19 cases remain on the rise. In fact, last week set a new record on COVID-19 infections at 5.2 million new cases.

This is more than any other week since the pandemic began last year. According to the World Health Organization, this also represents a 12% increase over the previous week as well.

However, the figures are likely skewed due to higher testing numbers globally over the recent months.

RELATED: COVID-19 Vaccine For Kids Is Key For Herd Immunity

COVID-19 Cases Rising

Developing countries such as India and Brazil keep getting hit with massive surges that threaten to overwhelm their capacity. As of last week, India managed to vaccinate 4.5% of its population while Brazil inoculated 8.3%.

In fact, Brazil became just the second country after the US, to report more than 4,00 deaths in a 24-hour span. In addition, India hit a peak of almost 127,000 new cases in 24 hours.

Then, Iran set a new coronavirus infection record for three consecutive days running, reporting nearly 22,600 new cases. In comparison, the US already gave vaccine shots to 33% of its residents while the UK vaccinated 32% of its people. 

Meanwhile, infection rates slowed down in the US and the UK. COVID-19 cases in England fell to their lowest levels since September, according to the latest results of a random swab testing survey by the Office for National Statistics.

In the United States, COVID-19 cases are at 71,200 new cases per day, based on a seven-day average data from Johns Hopkins University. While the number is markedly lower than the winter daily averages, they are at par with last year’s summer surge, which averaged around 67,000 per day. 

Outbreaks Still Occurring

In addition, COVID-19 fatality rates are also increasing. Deaths increased for the past month to 82,000 during the week ending on April 18. This meant a global average of 12,000 deaths a day. In contrast, the week ending March 14 recorded only 60,000 deaths, or around 8,600 a day. 

The new weekly record for COVID-19 cases happened a few days after the virus recorded its three millionth death. This is all happening despite accelerated vaccine efforts to get things under control.

The 12% increase in infections shows that the end to the pandemic isn’t as near as more people think. 

Setbacks In the Vaccine Rollout

Further complicating matters are setbacks in the vaccine rollout. Health officials reported a rare case of blood clotting among women put into pause the administration of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

Earlier, AstraZeneca’s vaccine also saw some recipients report blood clots, prompting a temporary suspension of the vaccine drives in 18 countries, including Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. 

In addition, new variants of the coronavirus are sending infection rates surging. Brazil is currently host to a dangerous mutation, P.1, which is reportedly more contagious.

The more hardy UK and South African variants also led to surges worldwide. The new strains also required vaccine makers to take a step back to test their vaccines for effectiveness against the new variants.

Watch the CBS This Morning video reporting that the world reaches a new milestone as cases of COVID-19 climb:

 Loading ...

What do you think of the surges of COVID-19 cases happening despite the rollout of vaccines? Do you see the end of the pandemic within the year?

Let us know what you think by sharing your comments in the comments section below.