“Tsunami” Of new Covid cases with Record weekly jump infection, but fewer deaths: WHO

Geneva: The World Health Organization said a record 9.5 million cases of COVID-19 were tallied around the world last week, marking a 71 percent weekly surge that amounted to a “tsunami” as the new Omicron coronavirus variant sweeps worldwide.

However, the number of recorded deaths declined.

The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, released by the global health agency Thursday, said that during the week December 27, 2021 to January 2, 2022, following a gradual increase since October, the global number of new cases increased sharply by 71 per cent as compared to the previous week.

The number of new deaths decreased by 10 per cent. This corresponds to just under 9.5 million new cases and over 41,000 new deaths reported during the last week. As of January 2, a total of nearly 289 million cases and over 5.4 million deaths have been reported globally, the update said.

“Last week, the highest number of COVID-19 cases were reported so far in the pandemic. And we know, for certain, that this is an underestimate of cases because reported numbers do not reflect the backlog of testing around the holidays, the number of positive self-tests not registered, and burdened surveillance systems that miss cases around the word,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“Just like previous variants; Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people. In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world,” he said.

Ghebreyesus noted that first-generation vaccines may not stop all infections and transmission but they remain highly effective in reducing hospitalisation and death from this virus.

“So as well as vaccination, public health social measures, including the wearing of well fitting masks, distancing, avoiding crowds and improving and investing in ventilation are important for limiting transmission,” he said.

“The essence of the disparity is that some countries are moving toward vaccinating citizens a fourth time, while others haven’t even had enough regular supply to vaccinate their health workers and those at most risk,” he said.