Pandemic not over even though COVID-19 cases drop – WHO

Globally, there were about 12 percent fewer cases of COVID-19 last week, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization on its weekly review. United Nations said there were 4.2 million cases of infections last week, while there were 13,700 deaths, down 5%, reported AP.

“These trends are encouraging, but there is no guarantee they will persist,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The most dangerous thing is to assume (that) they will,” he said. He added that even though the number of weekly reported deaths have plummeted more than 80% since February, one person still dies with COVID-19 every 44 seconds and that most of those deaths are avoidable.

Globally, COVID-19 deaths declined in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, but increased in Africa, the Americas, and the Western Pacific, according to WHO’s pandemic report. According to WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, the virus has not yet settled into a seasonal pattern and will require constant surveillance and possibly tweaks to diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.

Because the Coronavirus has become increasingly adept at getting around immunity from vaccinations and past infections, scientists warn it will persist for a long time to come. New research suggests the latest omicron variant gaining ground in the U.S. – BA.4.6, which accounted for around 8% of new U.S. infections last week – may be even better at evading the immune system than BA.5.