While the global weekly coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases continued to decline since its peak in January this year, the number of related fatalities rose again last week, reversing the five-week trend, according to the World Health Organization. The UN health agency in its weekly epidemiological report said that over 8,700 fatalities were recorded worldwide, a 4% increase as compared to the previous week. More than 535 million confirmed Covid cases and over 6.3 million related deaths have been reported globally.
“These trends should be interpreted with caution as several countries have been progressively changing COVID-19 testing strategies, resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently lower numbers of cases detected,” the report said.
Which region saw increase in Covid deaths?
Among the six WHO regions, Americas and the Western Pacific witnessed a 21% and 17% increase in the deaths, respectively. The US, Brazil and Canada were among the worst-hit countries in Americas in terms of Covid-related deaths. In West Pacific, the highest numbers of new deaths were reported from China, Australia, and Japan.
At the country level, the United States reported highest weekly deaths, followed by China , Brazil, Russia, and Italy. But the sharpest rise in deaths was reported from Brazil (989 new deaths; +52%) while Russia (500 new deaths; -12%) witnessed an overall decline in deaths from the previous week. The US recorded 32% rise in weekly deaths with 2,376 fatalities, China with 1,201 deaths and 32% increase, and Italy with 443 deaths and 17% increase.
The highest number of new weekly cases were reported from the US with 743,723 new cases, followed by China (501,146), Germany (281,706 new cases), Brazil (279,862 new cases), and Australia (194,158).
Decreasing trends were observed in the other four regions.