COVID-19 cases grow by 20 per cent globally

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some 110 countries, driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, said the UN health agency chief on June 29, amounting to a 20 per cent spike overall, and a rise in the number of deaths across three of the six world regions monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in his weekly briefing to journalists that the global figure overall remains “relatively stable”, but nobody should be under any illusion, that the coronavirus is on the way out, UN News informs.

“This pandemic is changing but it’s not over. We have made progress but it’s not over.”

“Only with concerted action by governments, international agencies and the private sector can we solve the converging challenges”, said the WHO chief.

He warned that our ability to track the virus is under threat as reporting and genomic sequences are declining. The optimistic mid-year deadline for all countries to vaccinate at least 70 per cent of their populations is looking unlikely, with the average rate in low-income countries, standing at 13 per cent.

On the bright side, in the past 18 months, more than 12 billion vaccines have been distributed around the world, and 75 per cent of the world’s health workers and over-60s are now vaccinated.