The global number of new COVID-19 cases increased sharply by 71% last week compared to the previous week, but the number of new deaths decreased by 10%, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
WHO said in a weekly update on the pandemic situation that there were about 9.5 million new cases and over 41,000 new deaths reported from Dec. 27 of 2021 to Jan. 2 of this year.
All regions reported an increase in the incidence of weekly cases, with America reporting the largest increase at 100%, followed by South-East Asia at 78%, and Europe at 65%.
WHO said that while Africa still reported a weekly increase in the number of new deaths, all the other regions in the world reported a decrease as compared to the previous week. (Xinhua)-rir