The world's pace of deaths from COVID-19 rose steeply last week, as countries in multiple parts of the world battled surges and people in many nations over the weekend protested vaccination and other measures to curb virus activity.No let-up in Southeast Asia epicenterGlobal COVID deaths last week were up more than 20.6%, with cases increasing by 6.5%, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, the World Health Organization (WHO) technical lead for COVID-19, said today on Twitter.
Global cases have been rising for 5 consecutive weeks, and deaths are usually a lagging indicator of increased activity.About 69,000 people across the world died from COVID-19 last week, she said. "This is an absolute travesty, because we can prevent deaths.