Global Covid U-turn? WHO top scientist's note of caution on variants, waves

Worldwide, over 556,897,312 cases have been reported so far, according to the WHO tally. France has been witnessing a surge.

Two years and many variants later, coronavirus is still not done with the world it seems. After Delta variant in 2021, and the Omicron variant, earlier this year, a new subvariant - BA.5 - is on the radar of experts.

A worker, wearing a protective suit following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, transports luggage on the tarmac of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, on a hot summer day in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.  (via REUTERS)

Amid concerns over fresh Covid waves, chief scientist has sent a note of caution. "We need to be prepared for these COVID-19 waves- each new variant will be more transmissible, and immune evasive- higher numbers infected will translate into greater hospitalizations and sickness. All countries must have a data driven plan to quickly respond to changing situations," Soumya Swaminathan wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Fresh concerns have emerged in Japan and New Zealand among other countries over a spike in cases, according to reports. France is said to topping the global charts.

Swaminathan was responding to a tweet from Philip Schellekens, a senior Advisor at the World Bank Group. "We're seeing a global U-turn in COVID-19 mortality. Following months of decline, it has started to rise again. Not a big surprise given: properties of BA.5, relaxed attitudes towards infection control, 3/4 of the world not being up-to-date on vaccination." he had tweeted.

In another post, he shared data to highlight that about three-fourth of the world is yet to get booster doses. Among the high-income countries, US, France, Germany are identified as the drivers of the global surge, he highlighted.

Region Wise, according to the WHO, Europe has the highest number of overall Covid cases followed by the Americas, Western Pacific, South East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, and Africa.

Japan warned on Thursday, according to a Reuters report, that a new wave of COVID infections appeared to be spreading rapidly and urged people to take special care ahead of an approaching long weekend and school summer vacation.

In China's Macau, only place where gambling is legal, six casinos are shut. The country logged its slowest economic growth since the initial Covid outbreak Friday, expanding just 0.4 percent in the second quarter, according to an AFP report.

(With inputs from Reuters, AP)