WHO says every world region reported a rise in cases except for Africa, where officials saw an 11 per cent drop
Visitors to the Tokyo Zoological Park Society watch Japanese-born twin pandas and their mother at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Wednesday. Groups of six are allowed only one minute to see them as the zoo is open just for the panda exhibit until Friday. Pic/AFP
The number of new coronavirus infections in the last week jumped by about 55 per cent, although the number of deaths remained stable, the World Health Organization said in its latest pandemic report. In the weekly report issued Tuesday night, the U.N. health agency said there were about 15 million new COVID-19 cases last week and more than 43,000 deaths. Every world region reported a rise in COVID-19 cases except for Africa, where officials saw an 11 per cent drop.
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Last week, WHO noted a pandemic record high of 9.5 million new infections in a single week, calling it a “tsunami” of disease.
Residents queue up for tests in Tianjin on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
WHO said the extremely contagious omicron variant continues to define the pandemic globally and is now crowding out the previously dominant delta variant. It said omicron, which was first detected in southern Africa in late November, accounts for nearly 59 per cent of all sequences shared with the largest publicly available global database of viruses. WHO said omicron had now proven to have a shorter doubling time, with increasing evidence it was able to “evade immunity.” It also noted there were numerous studies that it is less severe compared to previous variants.
Scientists in Britain and the U.S. say there are early signs the crush of omicron may have peaked, but they are still uncertain how the next phase of the pandemic might unfold. WHO noted the Americas reported the highest-ever number of COVID-19 cases this week, with a 78 per cent spike, mainly driven by the U.S. The number of new cases in Europe rose by 31 per cent, while there was a 10 per cent drop in deaths. The biggest jump in COVID-19 infections was noted in Southeast Asia, where cases increased by more than 400 per cent, with the largest numbers reported in India, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Bangladesh. The numbers of deaths in the region fell by 6 per cent.
17,38,701 No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours
30,84,58,509 Total no. of cases worldwide
54,92,595 Total no. of deaths worldwide
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