With the beginning of 2021, Europe has surpassed 25 million coronavirus cases, with 560,000 deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic. Illustrating the worsening situation, there are more than a million new cases about every four days now. This makes Europe, with just one-tenth of the world’s population, the worst-affected region, with nearly 30% of global cases and deaths.
The failure of lockdowns and other measures to substantially reduce infection rates in Europe is shown in the case of Germany, which recorded the second highest daily infection rate since Dec. 10 on Jan. 7, with almost 32,000 cases, and 1,188 deaths set a new daily record. So far, 1.8 million Germans have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, and almost 38,800 have died. Yesterday’s figures may not even be correct, since many health offices and other institutions have not worked regularly through the entire “holiday” period from Christmas through New Year’s Day.
