#COVID19 were reported to WHO. Dr @mvankerkhove elaborates on Omicron and its sub-lineages transmission and severity ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/w53Z25npx2 The UN health agency on Thursday released its weekly report on COVID-19 and according to it, just over 16 million new COVID-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported worldwide last week.
The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%, Southeast Asia reported a decrease of about 37%, the biggest drop globally.
The number of deaths rose by 38% in the Middle East and by about one-third in the Western Pacific. The biggest number of new COVID-19 cases was seen in Russia.
Cases there and elsewhere in Eastern Europe doubled in recent weeks, driven by a surge of the omicron variant. Regarding the decline in the number of cases, WHO's emergencies chief Mike Ryan said, “The countries claiming that their transmission has dropped from two to six weeks ago have likely seen a drop in testing rates." The WHO earlier this week urged governments to improve vaccination rates and rapid testing as infections have risen from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, especially in east Europe.