The weekly number of COVID-19 cases was stable last week, with declining cases in four world regions and rising cases in the Americas and Western Pacific regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest weekly update.Nearly 2.7 million COVID-19 cases were reported to the WHO last week, up 2% compared to the week before. The five countries reporting the most cases were Japan, South Korea, the United States, France, and Italy.Cases up in Americas, Western PacificCases in the Americas were up 19% compared to the previous week, led by rising activity in the United States and Brazil, as well as in Honduras and Paraguay. In the Western Pacific region, cases rose 8%, mainly due to ongoing surges in Japan and South Korea.South Korea’s growth in daily infections has slowed a bit, though cases remain over 60,000 a day, according to Yonhap News. Health officials are raising concerns about another spike in activity due to new variants, waning vaccine protection, and more indoor gathering during the winter months.More than 8,400 COVID deaths were reported to the WHO last week, down 5% from the week before. However, fatalities rose in three regions: the Americas, the Western Pacific, and Southeast Asia.In an update on variant spread, the WHO said the Omicron BA.5 and its descendent subli …
COVID-19 cases stable globally but rise in 2 regions – CIDRAP
