COVID-19 Evolution - 2020 | CDE Almería - Centro de Documentación Europea

This document collects and analyzes the data on the evolution of COVID-19, collected by the Johns Hopkins University and published daily by the European Documentation Center of Almeria during the year 2020.

On January 24, 2020 France reported the first case of COVID-19, being the first case, being the first known case of COVID-19 in the European Union and in the whole European continent. The first death from COVID-19 also occurred in France on February 25.

By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, Europe already had 24,518 people infected and a total of 958 deaths.

By the end of December 2020, Europe had a total of 27,321,466 people infected with COVID-19 and 580,699 people had died.

The largest increase in confirmed cases occurred at the beginning of the pandemic. In March, confirmed cases in Europe rose from 2,275 at the beginning of the month to 486,013 cases at the end of the month.

The second wave of the pandemic began during October. Cases during this month grew by 83%, from 6,032,899 confirmed cases on October 1 to 11,052,649 confirmed cases on October 31: 5,019,750 new cases confirmed in one month alone.

Similar to infections, the largest increase in the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 occurred in the months of March and November. In March, there were 31,384 deaths due to COVID-19.

The highest number of deaths took place during the month of October when 133,301 people died, representing an increase of 46.53% over the cumulative total up to September 30, 2020.

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 CASES IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 DEATHS IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 RECOVERIES IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020

Most affected European countries by COVID-19

As of December 31, 2020, the countries with the most registered cases were Russia with 3,127,347 cases, accumulating 11.44% of all cases registered in Europe; France with 2,677,666 cases accounting for 9.8% of the European total; United Kingdom with 2,496,231 cases, 9.14% of all cases in Europe; Turkey with 2. 208,652 cases accumulated 8.08% of all cases in Europe; Italy with 2,107,166 confirmed cases corresponding to 7.71% of all cases in Europe; Spain with 1,928,265 confirmed cases corresponding to 7.56% of all European cases; and Germany with 1,760,520 cases, corresponding to 6.44% of all European cases.

However, if we look at the number of inhabitants, the countries with the most cases are Andorra (with 9,460 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Luxembourg (8,444), San Marino (7,453), Montenegro (7,446), Czech Republic (6,835) and Georgia (6,098).

The countries that had registered the fewest cases at the end of the year were Vatican City (27 cases), Monaco (875), Liechtenstein (2,136), San Marino (2,248) Iceland (5,754) and Andorra (8,049). However, if we again look at the number of infections per 100,000 population, the countries least affected by the pandemic to date are Uzbekistan (222 cases), Finland (660), Norway (965), Kazakhstan (1,105), Greece (64) and Iceland (1,766).

Deaths due to COVID-19 in Europe

In terms of the lethality of the disease caused by the virus, the countries with the highest number of fatalities as of 31 December 2020 are Italy (74,159), the United Kingdom (73,622), France (64,759), Russia (56,271), Spain (50,837) and Germany (33,791).

Taking into account the number of inhabitants of each country, the countries where the virus has shown the highest lethality are San Marino (181 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) Belgium (174) Slovenia (130), Bosnia and Herzegovina (122), Italy (122), North Macedonia (121) and the United Kingdom (114).

The countries that have fortunately recorded a lower number of deaths are Vatican City (0 deaths), Monaco (3), Iceland (29), Liechtenstein (39) San Marino (59) and Andorra (84). If we take into consideration the number of inhabitants of each country, the countries with the fewest deaths caused by the virus are Vatican City, Uzbekistan (1.78 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), Monaco (8.24), Norway (8.48), Iceland (8.9) and Finland (10.25).

The following is an analysis of the evolution recorded during 2020 of total cases, deaths and recovered persons in those European countries with the highest number of confirmed cases at the end of December 2020.

Russia

Russia, which reported its first cases on January 31, confirmed a total of 2 cases on that day. At the end of December, Russia reported a total of 2,527,722 cases of COVID-19. The largest increases in Russia occurred at the beginning of the pandemic: March, April and May. In May, cases increased by 254%.

In terms of fatalities, Russia reported its first death from COVID-19 on March 31. This figure increased during April by 4,370%, from 24 deaths to 1,619 deaths. At the end of May Russia again experienced a significant increase of 301% and reached 4,693 deaths. At the end of December, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Russia was 56,271.

France

France, as mentioned above, was the first country in Europe to report a COVID-19 infection in Europe. This was on January 24. At the end of December, France had 2,677,666 infected persons. The largest increases in infections occurred in March, when infections increased by 40,113%, and in October, when infections increased by 128% and 795,420 new infections were reported.

The first death occurred on February 15. By the end of the year, 64,759 people had died of COVID-19 in France. In November, the total number of deaths increased by 40%, which means that 15,761 people died of COVID-19 in that month.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom reported its first infection on January 21, 2020. By the end of 2020, it reported a total of 2,496,231 cases of coronavirus. The largest increases in infections occurred at the beginning of the pandemic and in October, when infections increased by 119% and 552,018 new infections were reported.

The first death occurred on March 6. By the end of the year, 73,622 people had died of COVID-19. April saw the largest increase of 754% in the number of deaths. In November, 11,738 UK citizens died of COVID-19, an increase of 25%.

Turkey

The first coronavirus infection in Turkey occurred on March 11, 2020. Turkey ended 2020 with a total of 2,208,652 COVID-19 infections. The largest increases in infections occurred in April, when the number of infections increased 6-fold to more than 120,000. In December, cases in Turkey soared. A total of 1,539,695 new infections were reported, an increase of 230% over the total number reported.

The first death occurred on March 17. By the end of the year, 20,881 people had died of COVID-19.

Italy

Italy reported its first infection on January 31, 2020. By the end of December 2020, Italy had reported a total of 2,107,166 cases of COVID-19. The largest increases in infections occurred at the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April, and in November, when infections increased by 125% and 892,219 new infections were reported.

The first death occurred on February 21. By the end of the year, 74,159 people had died of COVID-19. As with infections, the sharpest increases in the number of deaths occurred in March, April and November. November was particularly noteworthy, when the number of deaths increased by 43% compared to the total, with 16,750 new deaths due to COVID-19.

Spain

The first COVID-19 infection detected in Spain occurred on February 2, 2020. Spain reported 1,928,265 cases of COVID-19 by December 31. The largest increases in infections occurred at the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April, and in September, when infections increased by 63%. In October, 407,071 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Spain.

The first death in Spain occurred on March 3. By the end of the year, 50,837 people had died of COVID-19. In November, the number of deaths increased by 25% compared to the total number of deaths reported to date, which amounted to 9,191 new deaths.

Germany

Germany reported its first infection on January 27, 2020. By the end of 2020, Germany had reached 1,760,520 coronavirus cases. The largest increases in infections occurred in the months of March and November. In November, 525,666 new cases were reported, which meant that cases doubled that month.

The first death occurred on March 9. By the end of the year there were 33,791 deaths from COVID-19. In December, the number of deaths increased by 96.72%, when more than 16,600 people died from COVID-19.

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 CASES IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 DEATHS IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020

EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 RECOVERIES IN EUROPE – YEAR 2020