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On Thursday, the World Health Organization expressed concern about the “high” number of coronavirus infections in 15 countries stretching from Morocco to Pakistan, warning that these countries spread over the Maghreb, the Middle East, Africa and Asia are facing a “fourth pandemic wave”. At a time when they still are Immunization rates are very low.
The World Health Organization said in a statement that the delta mutant, which was first detected in India, has spread to 15 countries in the “Eastern Mediterranean Region” covered by the Regional Office for WHO.
The Eastern Mediterranean region covers a large area stretching from Morocco to Pakistan via Somalia and Saudi Arabia and includes 21 member states in addition to the Palestinian territories. The total population of this region is approximately 680 million people.
The statement added that “the spread of the mutated version of Delta is increasing the increase in Covid-19 infections and deaths (caused by the virus) in a growing number of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region”.
Delta converted
The statement quotes Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, as saying that “the majority of new infections and hospitalized cases are in unvaccinated people. Today we are witnessing the fourth wave of Covid-19 in this region. . “
In countries in the region, the organization has seen a monthly increase in the number of corona infections of 55% and a 15% increase in the number of deaths caused by the virus, bringing the weekly rate of new infections to 310,000 new infections and the weekly death rate at 3,500 deaths.
The statement warned that some countries in the region, such as Tunisia, which has recorded the highest number of deaths in North Africa, are struggling to cope with this increase in the number of injured at a time when they are suffering from a shortage of oxygen cylinders and overcrowding in intensive care units for patients.
The organization warned that the delta mutant is fast becoming the “dominant strain” in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, a region which suffers from very low vaccination rates because “only 5.5% of the region’s population is completely immune “.
According to a study recently published in the scientific journal Virological, the viral load (the amount of virus in the blood) in the first tests of patients infected with the delta mutant was 1,000 times that of patients infected with the first copy. virus in 2020.
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