The number of new cases of SARS-CoV-2, confirmed on a global scale, decreased by 16% last week to 2.7 million, announced last night by the World Health Organization.
The number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the same period decreased by 10% compared to the previous seven-day period, at 81,340, according to the WHO's weekly update, based on data up to Sunday.
Five of the six regions of the world for which the Agency provides data recorded double-digit reductions in the number of infections. Only the Eastern Mediterranean recorded an increase of 7%.
Cases decreased by 20% in Africa and the Western Pacific Region, by 18% in Europe, by 16% in the Americas and by 13% in South-East Asia.
The Director-General of the WHO, the Tedros Andanom Gebreus, said the day before yesterday Monday that the number of cases decreased for the fifth consecutive week, by almost 50% compared to the more than five million confirmed in the week of 4 January.
«This shows that simple measures to protect public health work, even after the appearance of variant strains» of SARS-CoV-2, he pointed out.
«What matters now is how we react to this trend. The fire hasn't gone out, we've just reduced its size. If we stop fighting on any front, it will be rekindled,» he said.
The mutant strain of the new coronavirus which was originally identified in United Kingdom, had been detected in 94 countries by last week, eight more than the week before.
Cases of transmission of this variant strain in the community, unlike the selected introduced cases, were recorded in at least 47 countries.
The variant strain of the new coronavirus originally identified in South Africa, while it had been detected in 46 countries by last week, twice as many as the week before, with cases of community transmission in 12 of them.
The variant strain of the new coronavirus originally identified in Brazil, had been detected in 21 countries as of last week, or six more than the week before, with cases of community transmission in two of them.
The US is the country that recorded the most cases in the world from 8 to 15 February (673,000), followed by Brazil (over 318,000), France (over 127,000), Russia (over 104,000), the United Kingdom (over 97,000), Italy (over 85,000), India (over 78,000), Mexico (over 66,000), Indonesia (over 63,000) and Turkey (over 55,000).
