GENEVA – The number of new coronavirus cases fell worldwide last week by about 12%, according to the World Health Organization’s latest weekly review of the pandemic released on Wednesday.
The UN health agency reported there were just under 4.2 million new infections last week and about 13,700 deaths – a 5% drop.
“This is very encouraging, but there is no guarantee that these trends will continue,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. “The most dangerous thing is to assume that they will do that,” he said. He added that although the number of reported weekly deaths has fallen by more than 80% since February, a person still dies of COVID-19 every 44 seconds and that most of these deaths are preventable.
In its pandemic report, the WHO said deaths from COVID-19 fell in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, but rose in Africa, the Americas and the Western Pacific.
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Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, noted that the virus has not yet settled into a seasonal pattern and that its continued evolution will require ongoing surveillance and possible changes in diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
Scientists warn that the coronavirus will last long into the future, in part because it is getting better at protecting immunity from vaccination and past infection. Experts point to emerging research that suggests the latest variant of omicron gaining ground in the U.S. — BA.4.6, which was responsible for about 8% of new infections in the U.S. last week — appears to be even more better at evading the immune system than the dominant BA. 5.
In China, authorities this week locked down its 65 million citizens under tough COVID-19 restrictions and are discouraging domestic travel during upcoming national holidays.
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Across the country, 33 cities including seven provincial capitals are under full or partial lockdown covering more than 65 million people, according to a report published late Sunday by Chinese business magazine Caixin.
He said outbreaks have been reported in 103 cities, the highest since the early days of the pandemic in early 2020.
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