Global COVID-19 cases on the rise for the first time in seven weeks

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that positive cases of COVID-19 have increased globally for the first time in seven weeks. The director-general of the UN dependent entity, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the rebound could be explained by the “relaxation” of health precautions in different parts of the world and the greater circulation of new, more contagious variants of disease.

“We are working to better understand these increases in transmission, although in some cases this is due to a relaxation of public health measures, as well as the circulation of new variants (of the virus) and people have let their guard down“the Ethiopian expert said at a press conference.

In the last few days they’ve been defeated the 400,000 daily cases of COVID-19 on the planet, when on February 16 it had fallen to about 220,000, the lowest number in nearly six months. While the cumulative number of cases worldwide is 113 million, while coronavirus deaths exceed 2.5 million.

The official indicated that the trend change happened in Europe, America, Middle East and Southeast Asia, and called it “disappointing but not surprising”. Africa and East Asia are the only regions where cases have not moved in this direction.

In another passage from his lecture, Tedros pointed out the need to maintain precautions even among those who have already been vaccinated against the disease. “[Las vacunas] they will help save lives, but if countries trust them they make mistakes, ”he said. And he called for continued testing, isolation of positive and suspected cases and contact tracing, as well as quarantine and treatment.

The Director of the Centers for Disease Control of the United States (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, warned that “With this number of cases and the variants spreading, there is certainly a chance of losing all the hard-earned ground.”. “Now is not the time to relax key measures that we know can stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, not when we are so close. We have the capacity to stop a potential fourth wave in the country, ”he added.

As for individual citizens, he called on them to “Avoid crowded places, maintain a physical distance, wash your hands, wear a mask and ventilate the rooms.” “We are in a global crisis which demands a coherent and coordinated global response”, Tedros summed up.

With information from EFE

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