Global drop in COVID-19 continues, but cases still high
The world's COVID-19 cases declined last week for the fifth week in a row, but hot spots remain in a handful of countries, especially in Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest weekly update.Meanwhile as cases continue to fall in the United States, Hawaii became the final state to drop its mask mandate.Decline smaller than in past weeksCases declined 5% last week compared to the week before, marking a smaller decline compared with earlier weeks over the past month.
Deaths also fell, declining by 8%.More than 10 million cases were reported to the WHO last week, with South Korea, Germany, Vietnam, Russia, and Japan reporting the most.
There were more than 52,000 new deaths, and the United States continues to report the most COVID-19 fatalities of any country.In the WHO's Western Pacific region, rising cases were driven by surges in South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and New Zealand.South Korea today reported a new record high, with 342,466 new cases, as did Hong Kong, with 58,757 new cases.
Elsewhere, China's cases reached a new 2-year high, with 555 new cases, and health officials in Shanghai are battling an uptick in asymptomatic cases by doing mass testing, delaying some large gatherings, and shutting some public spaces, according to Reuters.Of sequenced samples over the past month, 99.7% were the Omicron variant, and, of those, 34.2% were the more transmissible BA.2 Omicron subvariant.
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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