LONDON (AP) — The variety of new coronavirus circumstances and deaths globally have continued to fall previously week, the World Well being Group mentioned Wednesday, with solely the Western Pacific reporting a rise in COVID-19.
In its newest report on the pandemic issued on Wednesday, the U.N. well being company mentioned new COVID-19 infections dropped by 5% within the final week, persevering with a declining pattern that began greater than a month in the past. Deaths have been additionally down by 8% and have been falling globally for the final two weeks.
Solely the Western Pacific noticed an increase in coronavirus circumstances, reporting a 46% improve. Within the final week, Hong Kong has been recording about 150 deaths per day, giving it the world’s highest dying fee per 1 million folks, in accordance with information from Oxford College.
The extremely infectious omicron variant has lately overwhelmed the semi-autonomous Chinese language metropolis, prompting mass quarantines, grocery store panic shopping for and even town’s morgues are overflowing, forcing authorities to retailer our bodies in refrigerated transport containers.
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Elsewhere, COVID-19 is falling considerably; the most important declines have been seen within the Center East and Africa, the place circumstances dropped by 46% and 40%, respectively.
“The mildness of the omicron wave, its low dying toll and the truth that it’s quickly disappearing, has created the widespread impression that COVID-19 is over,” mentioned Salim Abdool Karim of the College of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He mentioned it’s nonetheless unclear when the pandemic would possibly finish, however mentioned the low dying toll through the omicron surge was placing.
Many scientists have credited that to the booster immunization packages undertaken in quite a few wealthy international locations, which have damaged the connection between COVID-19 an infection and extreme illness.
Earlier this week, an professional group convened by WHO mentioned it “strongly helps pressing and broad entry” to booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine amid the worldwide unfold of omicron, capping a reversal of the U.N. company’s repeated insistence final 12 months that boosters weren’t vital for wholesome folks.
WHO Director-Normal Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pleaded with wealthy international locations to not supply boosters and to ship doses to Africa as an alternative, saying there was no scientific justification to warrant boosters for wholesome folks.
Quite a few scientific research have since confirmed that booster doses of approved vaccines assist restore waning immunity and defend in opposition to critical COVID-19, particularly amid the worldwide unfold of omicron.
Comply with AP protection of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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