WHO: Highest so far, over 21 million fresh COVID cases recorded previous week worldwide

World is witnessing a soaring case of the contagious COVID-19 virus. As per the data gathered by WHO – World Health Organisation previous week, more than 21 million COVID-19 infections were recorded, which is the highest figure since the time the virus began.  

Sharing the statistics, WHO officials raising the alarm stated that the Omicron variant is now becoming more dominant as it is rapidly growing and contains the highest reproduction number as compared to the Delta variant. 

The data was shared by WHO on Tuesday, who noted that there had been a 5% rise in the cases worldwide, the past week, that is from (January 17-23, 2022). During the same time period, more than 50,000 individuals scummed to the deadliest COVID-19 around the globe.  

WHO cited, “The Omicron variant has an influential growth advantage, a higher secondary attack rate and a higher observed reproduction number as compared to the Delta variant, and as a result, it is rapidly replacing the latter globally. It is thought that this transmission advantage is largely due to Omicron’s ability to evade immunity following infection and/or vaccination”.

Below is the descending order list of the previous week COVID-19 cases:

1. United States – recorded 4,215,852
2. France – recorded 2,443,821 
3. India – recorded 2,115,100
4. Italy – recorded 1,231,741
5. Brazil – recorded 824,579 

In terms of deaths, the US again reported the highest toll of deaths in 10,795 new deaths, followed by Russia – 4,792, then India – 3,343, Italy – 2440 and the United Kingdom – 1888. 

Although recording the highest COVID -19 cases and death, the United States witnessed a decline of 24 and 17 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, an increase of 21% and 33% was witnessed by France and India, respectively, in the last week.  

The data further shows that out of 10 South-East Asia Region, six countries has recorded a rise which is more than 20% of the total cases in the new weekly cases.