Paramedics lower a patient from an ambulance outside the emergency department of the Royal London Hospital in London, England, on January 26, 2021.
David Cliff | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Most regions of the globe are seeing an increase in new cases of Covid-19, as highly contagious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
New cases around the world increased by 8% in the last week, the fifth consecutive week that the WHO recorded an increase in transmission, Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s technical leader for Covid-19, told reporters during a news conference.
Cases in Europe, where the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant is spreading rapidly, have increased by 12%, said Van Kerkhove. WHO also noted a 49% increase in cases in the Southeast Asia region, an 8% increase in East Mediterranean region and a 29% increase in the Western Pacific region, driven by an increase in infections in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, she said.
The Americas and Africa saw a “slight decline”, said Van Kerkhove, but she said the overall case numbers were “worrying”.
“There is pressure for openness in many of these countries and there are difficulties for people, individuals and communities to comply with the proven control measures,” she said, adding that there was a “slight increase” in deaths worldwide. “We are also seeing that the distribution of vaccination is uneven and unfair”.
WHO comments come at a time when public health officials around the world are concerned that the very rapid reopening amid an increase in new highly contagious variants could reverse progress in the global pandemic. Some countries, including the United States, have seen an increase in new cases of Covid-19, even when they vaccinate millions of their citizens each day.
Approximately 82.7 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and more than 44.9 million are fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, the seven-day average of new cases increased by 5% or more in 27 states on Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The country recorded an average of 54,308 new cases per day last week – an increase of 1% over the previous week, after months of rapid decline in the number of cases, according to Hopkins data.
On Monday morning, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state would likely halt its plans to reopen as Covid-19 cases began to rise again.
Also on Monday, the director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, urged all Americans to remain “vigilant” while authorities rush to vaccinate most Americans.
“We are at a critical point in this pandemic,” said Walensky during a press conference at the White House. “I am concerned that if we do not take the right measures now, we will have another preventable increase, just as we are seeing in Europe now.”
Van Kerkhove urged the public to continue to practice security measures, including social distance, wearing masks, hand washing and avoiding crowded spaces. She also urged world leaders to prioritize vaccinating those most at risk.
“There is still much more that we can do at the individual level, at the community level, as leaders in the government,” she said.