Currently, new cases are resurging significantly in European countries as well as Russia, and are also rising in the United States. On the other hand, the status of infections for most of Asia and Latin America is relatively moderate (Chart 1). Meanwhile, although some emerging economies are falling behind in vaccinations, full vaccination rates are high in many advanced economies.
The significant global drop in severe cases and confirmed deaths can be regarded as a positive sign. The number of new cases in Japan is seeing great improvement, as evidenced by the weekly average declining to a considerable extent recently after soaring well above 22,000 persons in mid-August.