MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

WHO says global COVID-19 infections up but deaths drop

The WHO is not considering declaring the pandemic over at this point

The total number of new COVID-19 infections globally has increased by 8%, while the number of fatalities has gone down by 17%, compared to the previous seven days, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday.

According to the WHO COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, a total of 11,407,714 new cases and 43,097 deaths were reported between Feb. 28 and March 6.

The growth in cases was reported in the Western Pacific region (up 29%), Africa (up 12%), and Europe (up 2%). In the remaining three WHO regions, cases have declined. Mortality grew in the Western Pacific (up 12%), but declined in all other regions, most noticeably in Eastern Mediterranean (down 49%) and Africa (down 41%).

The biggest number of infections was reported by the Republic of Korea (2,100,171), followed by Vietnam (1,670,627), Germany (1,350,362), the Netherlands (475,290), and France (419,632). The United States accounts for the majority of coronavirus-related deaths between February 28 and March 6 (9,078), followed by Russia (4,530), Brazil (3,301), Indonesia (1,994), and China (1,955).

In this scenario, public health experts have begun discussing how and when to call an end to the global COVID-19 crisis, although the WHO is not currently considering such a declaration.

According to WHO sources, discussions at the Geneva-based agency are focused on what conditions would eventually signal that the public health emergency declared on January 30, 2020, is over.

Some countries have already lifted all sanitary restrictions, while others have upped them. (Read also https://en.mercopress.com/2022/03/15/china-back-to-covid-19-lockdowns-while-uk-lifts-all-restrictions )