Rising figures on COVID019 cases could herald a much bigger problem as some countries also report a drop in testing rates, WHO said on Tuesday.
WHO also warns nations to remain vigilant against the virus.
After more than a month of decline, COVID cases started to increase around the world last week with lockdowns in Asia and China’s Jilin province battling to contain an outbreak, according to the WHO.
A combination of factors was causing the increases, including the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its cousin the BA.2 sub-variant, and the lifting of public health and social measures.
“These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Chief of WHO.
Low vaccination rates in some countries driven partly by a “huge amount of misinformation” also explained the rise. New infections jumped by 8% globally compared to the previous week, with 11 million new cases and just over 43,000 new deaths reported from Mrach 7-13. It is the first rise since the end of January.
The biggest jump was in the WHO’s Western Pacific region, which includes South Korea and China, where cases rose by 25% and deaths by 27%.
Africa also saw a 12% rise in new cases and 14% rise in deaths, and Europe a 2% rise in cases but no jump in deaths. Other regions reported declining cases, including the eastern Mediterranean region, although this area saw a 38% rise in deaths linked to a previous spike in infections.
A number of exports have raised concerns that Europe faces another coronavirus wave, with case rising since the beginning of March in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and UK.
According to Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO, BA.2 appears to be the most transmissible variant so far. But there are no signs that it causes more severe disease, and no evidence that any other variants are driving the rise in cases.
