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Amid UN chief's warning on Covid, Europe in focus: 10 global updates
Global Covid-19 update: We're seeing 1.5 million new cases each day. Large outbreaks are spreading in Asia. A new wave is sweeping across Europe," Guterres said in a video message. Here are ten global updates on Covid cases.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded a fresh warning this week on coronavirus as he spoke of "large outbreaks in Asia" and "a new wave in Europe" as new worries have emerged over the XE variant, said to be highly transmissible. "We're seeing 1.5 million new cases each day. Large outbreaks are spreading in Asia. A new wave is sweeping across Europe," Guterres said in a video message, adding that Omicron was a "startling reminder" of how quickly COVID-19 can mutate and spread. His remarks comes after the world saw a surge in parts of Europe and Asia in the first week of March.
Here are ten global updates on Covid cases:
1. Even though the world is worried about new variants, the WHO's weekly update showed a drop in cases for the second straight week. There was a 16 per cent decline in the Covid cases in the March 28- April 3 week as compared to the previous week, the world health body said in its April 5 update. "The number of new weekly deaths also decreased sharply (-43%)as compared to the previous week," it said.
2. The highest number of new weekly cases, according to the WHO, "were reported from the Republic of Korea (2,058,375 new cases; -16%), Germany (1,371,270 new cases; -13%), France (959,084 new cases; +13%), Vietnam (796,725 new cases; -29%), and Italy (486,695 new cases; -3%)".
3. The United States (4,435), Russia (2,357), Republic of Korea (2,336) and Germany (1,592) registered the highest number of deaths in the March 28-April 3 week.
4. In the latest updates, China's financial hub - Shanghai - announced another round of mass coronavirus testing to fight the outbreak. On Saturday, it recorded 23,600 new locally transmitted cases of Covid, news agency Reuters reported.
5. Shanghai's curbs to battle the outbreak have squeezed supplies of food and other essential goods for the city of 26 million, with residents also raising concerns about access to medical care, reports said.
6. Germany reported 22,647,197 confirmed cases of Covid-19, an addition of 55,471 cases on Saturday.
7. France reported a further increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care as the country’s death toll from the epidemic kept rising. The European nation on Saturday reported 74 new Covid-linked fatalities. So far, 1.14 Lakh people have died due to the infection.
8. Italy reported 63,992 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, against 66,535 the day before, the health ministry said. Italy has registered 160,658 deaths linked to the infection since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe.
9. The COVAX facility, backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), has delivered 1.42 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 144 countries, GAVI data released on Saturday showed. WHO has repeatedly stressed on the importance of vaccinating 70% of the population in all countries this year to control the virus mutation and its spread.
10. Nations have been advised not to drop their guards as new variants continue to emerge.
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI)
