A top World Health Organisation expert on the coronavirus pandemic said the weekly global count of deaths from COVID-19 is rising again, a "worrying sign" after about six weeks of decline.
Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 at the U.N. health agency, said on Monday that the growth followed a fifth straight week of confirmed cases increasing worldwide. She said the number of reported cases went up in four of the WHO's six regions, though there were significant variations within each region.
"In the last week, cases have increased by 8 per cent," Van Kerkhove told reporters. "In Europe, that is 12 per cent -- and that's driven by several countries."
The increase is in part due to the spread of a variant that first emerged in Britain and is now circulating in many other places, including eastern Europe, she said.
Southeast Asia registered a 49 per cent week-to-week jump in confirmed cases, while WHO's Western Pacific region reported a 29 per cent rise largely fuelled by the Philippines, Van Kerkhove said.
The eastern Mediterranean region saw cases rise by 8 per cent, while the number of cases reported in the Americas and Africa declined.
"I do want to mention that it had been about six weeks where we were seeing decreases in deaths," said Van Kerkhove. "And in the last week, we've started to see a slight increase in deaths across the world, and this is to be expected if we are to see increasing cases. But this is also a worrying sign."
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan acknowledged an urge among the public in many places to emerge from pandemic restrictions.
He insisted that any easing should coincide with measures such as strict case surveillance and high levels of vaccination, but said vaccines alone would not be enough.
"I'm afraid we're all trying to grasp at straws. We're trying to find the golden solution: So we just get enough vaccine and we push enough vaccine to people and that's going to take care of it," he said. "I'm sorry, it's not.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU