London, October 21 / BNA / The World Health Organization said there was a 7 percent increase in cases of the new Corona virus across Europe last week, the only region in the world where cases increased, and said that the disparity in the intake of vaccines is a threat . for the continent.
In its weekly assessment of the pandemic, the United Nations health agency said there were about 2.7 million new cases of COVID-19 and more than 46,000 deaths last week worldwide, similar to the numbers reported in the previous week.
The World Health Organization said that the two regions with the highest rates of COVID-19 infection are Europe and the Americas. Globally, the United States reported the largest number of new cases, more than 580,000, which still represents an 11 percent decrease.
Britain, Russia and Turkey accounted for the most cases in Europe.
Africa and the Western Pacific saw the largest declines in COVID-19 cases, with infections dropping by about 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The number of deaths in Africa has also fallen by about a quarter, despite the acute shortage of vaccines on the continent.
But for the third week in a row, coronavirus cases in Europe jumped by nearly 1.3 million new cases. More than half of the countries in the region have reported a rise in COVID-19 numbers, the World Health Organization said. Britain and Russia both reported a 15% increase in new cases.
In a statement on Wednesday, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said one billion coronavirus vaccines have now been administered across the continent, calling the unequal uptake of the vaccine “the region’s biggest enemy in the fight against COVID-19.”
In the past week, Russia repeatedly broke new daily records for COVID-19 cases and the number of infections in the UK has risen to levels not seen since mid-July.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday backed a ministerial proposal to keep Russian workers at home for a week in a bid to stem the spread of the virus.
Russian officials have struggled to vaccinate the population, but due to suspicion of the vaccine, only about 32 percent of people have been immunized despite the availability of the Sputnik V vaccine. It has by far the highest death toll from the virus in Europe, with more than 225,000 deaths.
Although the head of Britain’s National Health Service has urged the government to introduce stricter protocols for COVID-19 including wearing masks and vaccinating children faster, so far politicians have objected.
MI