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The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that contagions by covid-19 in the world “increased for the fourth consecutive week and deaths stabilized after a six-week drop, “suggesting the coronavirus pandemic” is far from over. “
Only last week there were around 3.3 million new cases and over 60,000 new deaths, concentrating 80% of infections and deaths Europe and the America, while the only region that reported a decrease in deaths was the Western Pacific, with almost a third less from the previous week.
These data show that the pandemic “is far from over and, moreover, is at the crossroads between vaccines and several worrying variants”. For this reason, WHO has pointed out that “the need for global Covid-19 surveillance is greater than ever, as the implementation of vaccination campaigns and the emergence of variants are likely to affect the course of the epidemic, as the modes of transmission change. “
The United Nations agency said in its bulletin that infections “have increased especially in Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.”
In the region of Africa and the Americas, infection figures have been stable in recent weeks, although they are very disparate between countries and the WHO has noted “worrying trends” in some of them. Among these nations is Brazil, where the highest number of new cases were reported (508,010 in one week, a 3% increase) and which, according to the Pan American Health Organization, endangers neighboring countries.
Regarding variants of the virus, the WHO said the latest data “are concerning and indicate that, the so-called British variant is present in 125 countries in six regions of the worldClinically known as VOC202012 / 01, this mutation may be associated with an increased risk of hospitalization, disease severity and mortality, the WHO noted, citing a study of 55,000 Covid-19 patients between October and January.
The deaths caused by the British variant were 4.1 per thousand, compared to 2.5 per thousand among those infected with the previously circulating variant of the coronavirus.
For its part, the so-called “South African” variant, cataloged as 501Y.V2, is now present in 75 countries in all regions and in “more than 90% of samples sequenced in certain contexts”.
The third most disturbing variant that has developed in Brazil, the so-called P.1, was detected in three more countries last week, bringing the total to 41 countries in all regions. “Based on the preliminary results, it is estimated that P.1 is 2.5 times more transmissible (…) compared to the variant previously in circulation, while the probability of reinfection was found to be low (6.4%), ”noted the WHO in its weekly report cited by the Tlam news agency.
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