COVID continues slow global decline but rises in EuropeIn its latest weekly update on the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that global COVID-19 cases declined 6% last week compared to the previous week, though the pace of activity increased in the European region, which experienced an 8% rise compared to the week before.Of more than 2.9 million cases reported to the WHO last week, the five countries reporting the most cases were Germany, the United States, Japan, China, and France.Deaths also declined, with levels dropping across all regions.
Of 8,300 deaths reported to the WHO last week, the United States by far reported the most, with about 2,700.At a WHO briefing today, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said several European countries are now reporting increased cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, which he said is expected as the weather cools and people spend more time together indoors without COVID measures in place."We expect reported cases of COVID-19 to increase.
But the deaths don't have to, given we have vaccines and therapeutics that can save lives," he said, urging countries to step up surveillance, testing, sequencing, and ensuring that high-risk groups are vaccinated.Tedros said the WHO and its partners are tracking more than 300 Omicron subvariants.Oct 5 WHO global COVID situation update Oct 5 Tedros briefing commentsSARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4/BA.5 infection milder than Delta in South AfricaA South African study shows that COVID-19 patients infected with Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants were at similar risk for severe disease and hospitalization as patients infected with the BA.1 (original Omicron) variant but less so than those infected with the Delta variant.In the