The World Health Organization has identified more than 21 million new cases in a week worldwide, a contamination rate at the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, although it increases less quickly than before .
Le Monde with AFP
It is too early to lower the guard, warns the World Health Organization (WHO). In its weekly newsletter published on Tuesday, January 24, the institution notes that the number of contaminations at COVID-19 reached an unprecedented level last week.
“On the basis of the data currently available, the overall risk related to Omicron remains very high,” warned WHO. “More than 21 million new cases have been recorded [over the last seven days], representing the largest number of weekly cases identified since the beginning of the pandemic,” she said.
The organization indicated that the number of new cases had increased by 5% over the past week, compared to 20% the previous week. The overall incidence rate increases “slower”, however, indicated. WHO has also reported 50,000 new deaths, a stable figure from the seven previous days.
Omicron still dominant
The Omicron variant remains dominant in the world. The prevalence of the delta variant is “down continues” while alpha, beta and gamma variants circulate “very weakly”. “The countries that have risen from Omicron cases in November and December 2021 have seen or begin to see a drop in cases” currently, added WHO.
The Omicron variant accounted for 89.1% of coronavirus specimens collected and examined in the last thirty days. The data, downloaded from the Gisaid Global Database, also show that the Delta Variant, which previously dominated, represents only 10.7% of cases.