COVID-19 infections rise, Delta variant spreads to 132 countries
(United Nations News) COVID-19 infections rose eight per cent last week to more than 3.8 million, the UN health agency reported on Wednesday.
Latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed a “substantial” uptick in the Americas and the Western Pacific, which jumped 30 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.
This contributed to a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus deaths overall, which climbed by 21 per cent compared with last week, to more than 69,000.
If these trends continue, WHO noted that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next two weeks.
Regionally, South-East Asia also reported an increase in new infections, albeit at a much lower rate of three per cent, compared to the previous seven days.
The number of new deaths increased in all regions apart from Europe, where fatalities were similar to the previous week.
WHO said that over the seven days, the highest number of new cases was reported in the United States, which saw more than half a million new infections, representing a skyrocketing 131 per cent increase.
Read more at: United Nations News
Source: CARICOM TODAY