The pandemic is again “on the rise” and transmission of the new coronavirus has increased in the past week worldwide, the physician in charge of emerging diseases and zoonoses at the World Health Organization (WHO), Maria Van Kerkhove, warned today, as quoted by the EuropaPress news agency.
According to the expert, infections by the new coronavirus increased 12% in Europe in the last week.
Thus, there has been an increase in transmission and deaths associated with the new coronavirus, partly due to the circulation of new, more contagious variants.
But it is not only in Europe that cases are increasing. The same upward trend is taking place in Southeast Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Pacific, while in Africa there has been a “slight decline” in transmission over the past seven days.
“In Europe and other areas there is a combination that favors transmission such as pressures to open economies, difficulties to comply with measures in place, as well as the fact that vaccination distribution is not equitable and the variants that are emerging are more contagious,” Van Kerkhove explained at a press conference today.
For this reason, the WHO expert also stressed the importance of continuing to raise awareness of the importance of complying with prevention measures and urging governments to help people comply.
“The disease is on the rise again. Countries are weakening measures to stop transmission, vaccine coverage is weak, and the tide has to turn once and for all. Vaccines are a very powerful tool, but they are not the only one,” WHO Director of Health Emergencies Michael Ryan also said.
