News] U.S. reports highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the world

The U.S. has reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the world over the last seven days, according to the World Health Organization.

The U.S. saw 500,332 new cases (a 131% increase) the week ending July 25 compared to the previous week, the WHO said.

The world meanwhile has seen 3.8 million new cases (an 8% increase) over the same time period. while the number of COVID-related deaths (over 69,000) represented a 21% jump.

Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and India rounded out the top five of countries with most new cases.

The increase in cases is largely being fueled by the spreading delta variant as well as a slowdown in the U.S.’s vaccine drive. According to the CDC, only 49.2% of the country is fully vaccinated, well short of the benchmark needed for herd immunity.

“An average of around 540 000 cases were reported each day over the past week as compared to 490 000 cases reported daily the week before. This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Region of the Americas and the Western Pacific Region,” the WHO’s report reads.

“If these trends continue, it is expected that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next two weeks,” the WHO said.