WHO reports big drop in new coronavirus infections

On Sep 17, 2021

SWITZERLAND: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said there were about 4 million coronavirus cases reported globally last week, marking the first major drop in new infections in more than two months.

In recent weeks, there have been about 4.4 million new COVID-19 cases.

In its weekly update released on Tuesday, the UN health agency said every region in the world saw a drop in Covid-19 cases compared to the previous week. Although the worldwide number of deaths decreased to about 62,000, with the sharpest decline in Southeast Asia, there was a 7 per cent increase in deaths in Africa.

The highest numbers of cases were seen in the US, Britain, India, Iran and Turkey and the highly contagious delta variant has now been reported in 180 countries.

WHO also said children and teenagers continue to be less affected by COVID-19 when compared to adults, adding that deaths of people under 24 due to the disease account for fewer than 0.5 per cent of global deaths. – INDIA TODAY