GENEVA (AP) – A leading World Health Organization expert in the coronavirus pandemic said on Monday that the global weekly COVID-19 death count is increasing again, a “worrying sign” after about six weeks of decline.
Maria Van Kerkhove, technical leader for COVID-19 at the UN health agency, said the growth followed a fifth consecutive week of confirmed cases increasing worldwide. She said the number of reported cases increased in four of the six WHO regions, although there were significant variations within each region.
“In the past week, cases have increased by 8% per cent,” Van Kerkhove told reporters. “In Europe, this is 12% – and this is driven by several countries.”
The increase is partly due to the spread of a variant that first appeared in Britain and is now circulating in many other places, including Eastern Europe, she said.
Southeast Asia saw a 49% jump week by week in confirmed cases, while the WHO Western Pacific region reported a 29% increase driven mainly by the Philippines, said Van Kerkhove. The eastern Mediterranean region has seen cases increase by 8% per cent, while the number of cases reported in the Americas and Africa has decreased.
“I want to mention that it was about six weeks when we saw a decrease in deaths,” said Van Kerkhove. “And in the last week, we started to see a slight increase in deaths worldwide, and that is to be expected if we want to see an increase in cases. But this is also a worrying sign. “
The WHO emergency chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, recognized a need among the public in many places to get out of the pandemic restrictions. Ryan insisted that any easing must coincide with measures such as strict case surveillance and high levels of vaccination, but said that vaccines alone would not be enough.
“I’m afraid we are all trying to grab the straws. We are trying to find the golden solution: ‘So, we just get enough vaccine and provide people with enough vaccine and that will take care of that,’ ”he said. “I’m sorry, it isn’t.”