[ad_1]
The number of Covid-19-related deaths around the world fell for the second week in a row, with 88,000 new deaths reported last week, a 10% drop from the previous week, according to the WHO.
More than 3.1 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported worldwide last week, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. This was a 17% drop from the previous week and the lowest number of cases in the world since the week of October 26, 2020.
“While there are still many countries with an increasing number of cases, globally this is encouraging,” the weekly bulletin says.
The United States had the largest number of new Covid-19 cases, with 871,365. However, that figure represents a 19% drop in cases from the previous week, according to WHO data.
Brazil, France, Russia and the United Kingdom were also among the countries reporting the highest number of new cases globally, the WHO noted, although all saw a drop from figures from the previous week.
Of all regions, compared to the previous WHO weekly update, Africa saw the largest decline in cases, at 22%, while the eastern Mediterranean registered the lowest, at 2%.
Overall, new cases in the Americas accounted for more than half of all new cases worldwide, with more than 1.5 million new cases and more than 45,000 new deaths.
Globally, there have been nearly 107 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 2.3 million deaths from the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Many countries are hoping that coronavirus vaccines will provide a way out of the crisis.
But while some countries have already administered millions of doses, around 130 countries – which are home to some 2.5 billion people – have yet to administer a single dose, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. , during a briefing.
This week’s first data showing that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine may offer only ‘minimal protection’ against mild to moderate illnesses caused by the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa has shaken optimism in certain quarters.
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and easier to transport and store than some of the other vaccines approved to date and, as such, has been called upon to play a key role in the fight against the pandemic in countries with low and middle income.
[ad_2]
Source link