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The WHO warned that data showing a global increase in COVID-19 infections could signal a far worse problem since some countries are reporting lower testing rates.
COVID instances began to rise around the world last week, according to the WHO, after more than a month of reduction, with lockdowns in Asia and China’s Jilin province facing an outbreak.
The WHO attributed the rises to a number of variables, including the highly transmissible Omicron variation and its BA.2 sublineage, as well as the relaxation of public health and social policies.
“These increases are occurring despite declines in testing in some countries, meaning that the cases we’re seeing are just the top of the iceberg,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
Low vaccination rates in some countries, fueled in part by a “massive quantity of misinformation,” contributed to the spike, according to WHO authorities.
From March 7 to 13, the number of new infections increased by 8% globally, with 11 million new cases and little over 43,000 new fatalities reported. It’s the first increase since late January.
The WHO’s Western Pacific area, which includes South Korea and China, saw the highest increase, with cases up 25% and deaths up 27%.
In Africa, there was a 12% increase in new cases and a 14% increase in deaths, while in Europe, there was a 2% increase in cases but no increase in deaths. Other locations, such as the eastern Mediterranean, had a 38 percent increase in mortality connected to a prior spike in infections, albeit this area also saw a 38 percent increase in deaths.
A number of scientists have expressed alarm that Europe is on the verge of another coronavirus outbreak, with cases reported in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom since the beginning of March.
BA.2 appears to be the most transmissible form thus far, according to Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO at the briefing.
There are no indications that it produces more severe disease, and there is no evidence that any other novel mutations are causing the increase in cases.
In Europe, the image isn’t uniform either. In Denmark, for example, a temporary rise in cases was seen in the first half of February, owing to BA.2, but this quickly declined.
However, specialists have begun to warn that the United States may soon experience a wave similar to that experienced in Europe, possibly triggered by BA.2, the removal of restrictions, and decreasing protection from vaccines administered several months ago.
“I agree with the relaxation of restrictions because it is no longer an emergency,” Antonella Viola, an immunology professor at the University of Padua in Italy, said.
“Simply put, we must not believe that COVID has vanished. As a result, maintain the strictly necessary safeguards, which primarily include ongoing case monitoring and tracking, as well as the requirement to wear a mask in enclosed or extremely crowded areas.”
