International policy

 

Global

 

 

Vaccines

 

 

Europe

 

Asia

 

 

Africa

 

 

Middle East

 

  • Israel initially blocked 2000 vaccines from entering Gaza, Palestine. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is expecting two million doses from various manufacturers. After a delay Israel allowed 2000 vaccines into Gaza, enough to inoculate 1000 people, and the PA has said it plans to vaccinate health workers first.
  • An estimated 200 Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanon have died, this is three times the mortality rate for Lebanon as a whole. Lebanon has said that it will vaccinate Palestinian and Syrian refugees, along with the rest of the population.
  • Iraqi doctors warn of a second wave of coronavirus infections across the country. The country was placed under a new curfew, running all day Friday to Sunday and from 8am to 5pm the rest of the week. Schools are closed and mask wearing is enforced.

 

Australia and Oceania

 

 

North America

 

 

South America

 

International COVID-19 analysis

 

Below is the latest international comparison of COVID-19 data using WHO published figures. As mentioned before, country to country comparison has some limitations because of the variation in approach, data collection and testing.

 

Data from 18/02/2021:

  • As of 18 February, there have now been 109,594,835 confirmed cases, an increase of 2.4% since the previous week (2.5 million more cases and down from a 2.8% increase the week before). Suggesting the rate of increase in cases continues to slow down.
  • COVID-19 deaths globally have increased by 3.2% to 2,424,060  (75,250 more deaths, down from an increase of 3.7% the week before). This indicates that the increase in the rate of deaths also continues to slow.  
  • The UK remains ranked 5th in the world with 4,071,189 total cases, an increase of 2.2% since the previous week. This is down from a growth rate of 2.9% last week. UK cases accounts for 3.7% of all world cases. This week, the UK has seen 4,082 more deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 118,933 (accounting for 4.9% of all world deaths). The UK remains the country with the highest death toll in Europe and the fifth highest death toll globally.
  • In the rest of Europe, France continues to see the greatest increase in cases in Europe in the past week at an increase of 3.7% (down from 4.1% last week), bringing the total number of cases to 3,453,645 (124,658 more cases). Spain continues to be ranked at number 7th in terms of cases in the world and has seen an increase of 1.8% cases in the past week (55,847 more cases), this is down from an increase of 3.4% the week before. Italy also witnessed a larger increase in cases at 3.1% (83,391 more cases), this is down from an increase of 3.3% the week before.
  • The USA remains the country with the most cases and deaths in the world, accounting for 25.1% of world cases (27,491,574 cases) and 20.0% of total deaths (484,379 deaths). India remains second in the world for cases with 10,950,201 cases. However, cases continue to be rising at a slower rate (+0.4% since last week, down from +0.8% last week).
  • Brazil remains the country with the third highest cases in the world and the highest in South America at 9,921,981 cases (3.2% more cases than last week). Mexico has the third highest number of deaths in the world at 175,986 deaths and has experienced the second highest number of deaths in the past week after Brazil at 57,824 (+3.0%, down from an increase of 5.6% last week).
  • South Africa remains the worst affected country in Africa with 1,496,439 recorded cases and 48,478 deaths.
  • Currently, England has 18 times more case than Scotland (194,954 cases), 18 times more cases than Wales (200,456 cases) and 32 times more cases than Northern Ireland (110,127 cases) (PHE data).

 

 

 

Cases

% change since last week

Deaths

% change since last week

Death rate

1

USA

                       27,491,574

2.1%

                            484,379

4.3%

1.8%

2

India

                       10,950,201

0.7%

                            156,014

0.4%

1.4%

3

Brazil

                         9,921,981

3.4%

                            240,940

3.2%

2.4%

4

Russia

                         4,125,598

2.4%

                              81,926

4.1%

2.0%

5

UK

                         4,071,189

2.2%

                            118,933

3.6%

2.9%

6

France

                         3,453,645

3.7%

                              82,692

3.3%

2.4%

7

Spain

                         3,107,172

1.8%

                              66,316

1.9%

2.1%

8

Italy

                         2,751,657

3.1%

                              94,540

2.4%

3.4%

9

Turkey

                         2,609,359

2.1%

                              27,738

2.4%

1.1%

10

Germany

                         2,360,606

2.2%

                              66,698

4.8%

2.8%

11

Colombia

                         2,202,598

1.6%

                              57,949

2.6%

2.6%

12

Argentina

                         2,033,060

2.0%

                              50,432

1.8%

2.5%