The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 has increased by 7% in the past week, the majority of which are in Europe and the US, according to a new weekly epidemiological bulletin published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“More than 19 million people have contracted the new coronavirus infection worldwide in the past week and nearly 68,000 have died from it,” specifies the WHO in its bulletin on Covid-19.
The number of new infections fell by 17%, while the number of deaths increased by 7% compared to the previous seven-day period, the UN world health agency pointed out.
A total of 19,276,472 new infections and 67,953 deaths were reported to WHO between January 31 and February 6.
While all other regions recorded a decrease, a significant increase in the incidence of cases, compared to the previous week, was recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean (+36%). With more than 800,000 new cases, this is an increase of 36% compared to the previous week.
According to the WHO, nine countries have reported increases of 20% or more. The largest relative increases were recorded by Iran, Afghanistan (with an increase of 91%), and Jordan (85%).
At the same time, America, Southeast Asia, and Africa recorded declines of 36%, 32%, and 22%, respectively. Europe, which accounts for 58% of weekly infections, saw a 7% drop.
The highest number of new cases over the past week was reported from the United States (1,874,006). France (1,738,189), Germany (1,285,375), Brazil (1,241,025) and India (1,095,616) follow. The United States accounts for the majority of deaths (14,090), followed by India (7,888), Russia (4,686), Brazil (4,610), and Mexico (2,910).
More broadly, mortality has fallen by 14% in Africa and 5% in the Western Pacific. It increased slightly in Europe (2%) and remained the same in the United States (29,000 cases, +44%).
At the same time, deaths increased further in the Eastern Mediterranean (2300 new deaths, 45%). But the biggest increase was reported in Southeast Asia, which saw a 67% increase in the number of deaths.
“This is largely due to the declaration of retroactive deaths in India,” said the WHO, adding that New Delhi has recorded 7,888 new deaths, an increase of 68%.
In addition, the WHO estimates that “the prevalence of the Omicron variant has increased globally and is now detected in almost all countries”.
“However, many of the countries that reported an early increase in the number of cases due to the Omicron variant have now reported a decline in the total number of new cases since the beginning of January 2022,” the Geneva-based organization added.
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