Global COVID cases fall for second week as BA.2 rises
The world reported about 9 million COVID-19 cases last week, with cases dropping across all regions for the second week in a row, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in its latest weekly update.Meanwhile, parts of Asia are still on guard against later occurring Omicron variant surges, especially in China, where Shanghai remains on lockdown, and in Taiwan, where cases are on the rise though still low.BA.2 dominant in all world regionsOf cases last week, the countries reporting the most are in Asia and Europe—South Korea, Germany, France, Vietnam, and Italy.Deaths, typically a lagging indicator, declined sharply last week, down 43%.
The United States reported the most, followed by Russia, South Korea, Germany, and Brazil.Of SARS-CoV-2 samples sequenced in the last month, 99.8% were the Omicron variant, and of the sequenced Omicron samples, 93.6% were the more transmissible BA.2 subvariant.
The WHO noted that BA.2 is dominant in all world regions, but it has increased later and at a much slower rate in South America.The WHO said patterns should be interpreted with caution, owing to drops in testing, sampling, and sequencing.China's cases surge, mostly asymptomaticChina reported 20,582 new local cases today, 19,199 of them asymptomatic.
Of the symptomatic cases, 70% are in Jilin province, where outbreaks are affecting two of its biggest cities, Jilin City and Changchung.Shanghai reported 311 symptomatic cases, which makes up 22% of the country's total.
United States
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Cases: 46 252 513
Deaths: 750 423
Recovered: 0
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India
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Cases: 34 321 025
Deaths: 459 652
Recovered: 0
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Brazil
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Cases: 21 835 785
Deaths: 608 235
Recovered: 0
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United Kingdom
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Cases: 9 215 683
Deaths: 141 607
Recovered: 0
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Russia
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Cases: 8 494 589
Deaths: 237 619
Recovered: 0
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