A new report – according to the United Nations Information Center – confirmed an increase in cases of Covid-19 disease reported globally by almost 30 percent in the past two weeks, and four of the six sub-regions of the UN agency saw an increase in cases last week.
The UN report indicated that, in Europe and America, the rise in the number of cases is driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, and in countries such as India, the organization is tracking a new sub-strain called BA.2.75. According to the World Health
For his part, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that several factors compound the challenges, the first of which is the greatly reduced level of testing in many countries, and he said: “This obscures the true picture of an advanced virus, and the real burden of Covid-19 disease globally.”
He also noted that new treatments, especially oral antivirals, which are new and promising, are not reaching low- and middle-income countries, depriving the population who need them of treatment, and in addition, with the development of the virus, vaccine protection is diminishing. Although they are still really effective in preventing serious illness and death, low immunity emphasizes the importance of booster doses, especially for those most at risk.”
The Director-General of the UN Health Agency warned that each new wave of the virus leads to more people infecting more people with long-term Covid, and said: “This is clearly affecting individuals and their families, but it also places an additional burden on health systems, the broader economy and society as a whole.”
