LONDON (AP) — Globally reported cases of the new coronavirus fell by nearly a quarter in the previous week, while deaths fell by 6%, according to the World Health Organization’s Aug. 18 report on the pandemic. Parts of Asia are still higher.
The United Nations health agency said 5.4 million new COVID-19 cases were reported two weeks ago, a 24% drop from the previous week. Infection rates have fallen around the world, with nearly 40 percent in Africa and Europe and a third in the Middle East. COVID deaths rose 31% and 12% in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, respectively, but declined or remained stable elsewhere.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference that the number of reported coronavirus deaths had surged by 35% in the past month, noting that 15,000 people had died.
“15,000 deaths a week is totally unacceptable when we have all the tools to prevent infection and save lives,” Tedros said. The number of viral sequences shared each week has plummeted by 90 percent, making it difficult for scientists to monitor how COVID-19 might mutate, he said.
“But none of us are helpless,” Tedros said. “If you’re not vaccinated, get vaccinated, and if you need a booster, get vaccinated.”
On 18 August, the WHO Vaccine Advisory Group first recommended a second booster shot for those most at risk of contracting COVID-19, including the elderly, people with underlying health conditions and health workers. Many other health agencies and countries made the same recommendations months ago.
The panel also said it had reviewed data from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for young adults, and said children and adolescents were the lowest-priority group for vaccination because they were far less likely to develop severe disease.
Joachim Hombach, a member of the WHO vaccine expert group, said it was uncertain whether experts would support a broad booster for the general population or a new combination vaccine for the omicron variant.
“We need to see what the data will tell us, we need to see what the actual advantages of these vaccines containing the (omicron) strain are,” he said.
Panel chair Dr Alejandro Claviotto said their widespread use would be “a waste of vaccines and a waste of time” unless it was proven that they could stop transmission.
Last week, British authorities approved an updated version of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine against omicron, with the government announcing it will be available to people over 50 from September.
