COVID-19 related deaths dropped 90% globally this week in comparison with the steep toll recorded in February, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.
About 9,400 people died from the novel virus last week, a staggering drop from the roughly 75,000 weekly deaths seen each week in February, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We have now come a great distance,” Ghebreyesus said. “And this is certainly cause for optimism.”
COVID-19 cases across the planet have been decreasing during the last several weeks as well, the WHO said.
There have been just over 2.1 million newly registered cases reported last week, a 15% drop from the previous week. Deaths for a similar time period decreased by 10%, the WHO said.
There have been about 266,100 cases reported within the US last week, the third-highest variety of any country, and a pair of,480 deaths, a 20% drop from the week before.
Japan and Korea reported over 357,400 and 311,200 latest cases, respectively, the best within the globe.
WHO COVID technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove warned that there’s a “substantial underestimate” on the true circulation of the virus because surveillance and testing have declined.
Though he celebrated the dramatic drop in death rates, Ghebreyesus urged each governments and individuals to stay vigilant against COVID because “almost 10,000 deaths every week is 10,000 too many.”
“Testing and sequencing rates remain low globally,” he said. “Vaccination gaps remain wide, and the continued proliferation of latest variants stays concerning.”
With Post Wires