WHO: COVID continues to decline, except in Americas, Africa

Geneva, May 4 / BNA / The World Health Organization said, on Wednesday, that the number of newly reported coronavirus cases and deaths globally continued to decline last week, continuing the decline that first began in March.

There were about 3.8 million new infections and more than 15,000 deaths last week, the United Nations health agency said in its weekly epidemic report, down 17% and 3% from the week, respectively.

But those numbers are believed to significantly underestimate the true toll of COVID-19 as more and more countries are abandoning large-scale testing and monitoring, the AP reports.

However, the World Health Organization notes that cases are up by about a third in Africa and 13% in the Americas. There was also a 70% jump in reported deaths in India, although this was attributed to delayed reporting rather than a recent spike in the disease.

Last week, authorities in South Africa said they had noticed a slight rise in COVID-19 cases attributed to the omicron mutant BA.4, although they said it was too early to know if that would lead to a major new wave of the disease.

Although the BA.4 version of the COVID-19 omicron variant appears to be more contagious than omicron, the World Health Organization said there was no evidence yet that it was leading to significantly higher rates of hospitalization or death.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, the WHO’s head of emergencies, Dr Michael Ryan, said it was due soon to know if COVID-19 was entering a seasonal pattern and warned that countries were removing all of their restrictions too quickly – as many have done in the West.

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