Pandemic in numbers: surge continues

A child is tested for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Banda Aceh on August 13, 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to surge around the world this week, driven by a worsening situation in the United States and Canada. Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database. The average number of new daily cases globally increased by five percent over the week to 645,400, according to an AFP tally to Thursday.