PremiumThe WHO stated in its weekly report that the number of new coronavirus cases globally increased by 7% in the last week, driven largely by rising infections in the Western Pacific
As the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant gains ground across the globe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has emphasised the need for good surveillance and genome sequencing to track the virus.
“Omicron is sweeping the world. It is the latest variant of concern and about 86% of the sequences that are available from the last four weeks are the BA.2 sub-lineage. The rest are BA.1," said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid-19.
“So, we are seeing an increase in the proportion of detection of BA.2. However, we are seeing a lower number of sequences being reported to platforms like GISAID. But it still remains absolutely critical that we have strong surveillance and intelligent sequencing worldwide," she added.
Asserting that BA.2 is highly transmissible, she also pointed out that some countries are starting to see an uptick in cases.
This was seen in the recent weekly report by the WHO as well, which stated that the number of new coronavirus cases globally increased by 7% in the last week, driven largely by rising infections in the Western Pacific.
There were more than 12 million new weekly cases and just under 33,000 deaths, a 23% decline in mortality, according to the UN health agency’s report.
Confirmed cases of the virus had been falling steadily worldwide since January but rose again last week, due to the more infectious Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2, in addition to the suspension of Covid-19 protocols in numerous countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere, the WHO had said.
It also cautioned that with many countries dropping widespread testing programs, many infections are likely being missed and new case numbers should be interpreted cautiously.
In recent weeks, numerous countries including Britain, France, Italy and Germany have relaxed many of their public health measures against Covid-19, even as numbers have continued inching upward.
Meanwhile, China's health authorities this week reported the first coronavirus deaths in more than a year as the country battles its worst outbreak since the virus was detected in Wuhan in late 2019.
Download the App to get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!