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The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a collapse in health systems because of the Omicron and Delta variants of the coronavirus. “I am deeply concerned that the more contagious Omicron, circulating simultaneously with Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
“This is putting, and will continue to put, immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems that are on the verge of collapse,” Tedros added.
New infections: Highest weekly total since pandemic began
The number of new coronavirus infections worldwide reached its highest weekly level since the pandemic began. Across the world, an average of more than 935,000 infections per day were detected from Dec. 22-28. This was reported by AFP today with reference to authorities’ data.
With a total of 6,550,000 cases within seven days, the coronavirus is currently spreading at an unprecedented rate, according to the AFP count. The previous weekly record was recorded between April 23 and 29. At that time, an average of 817,000 cases per day were recorded.
The number of confirmed infections, which has been increasing worldwide since mid-October, has risen 37 percent in the past seven days compared to the previous week. However, the increase in new infections has not yet had an impact on the number of deaths, which has been declining globally for the past three weeks, AFP said. Most new infections are currently being recorded in Europe, where a total of more than 3.5 million cases have been registered in the past seven days.
Record numbers across Europe
In several European countries at once, the number of new infections recently reached record levels, including populous nations such as the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The dramatic increases are believed to be due to the rapid spread of the new omicron variant. In several countries, infection numbers doubled within 24 hours.
- source: orf.at/picture: pixabay.com
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