Global infections linked to the coronavirus increased last week for the fifth consecutive week and even faster than the previous one, while deaths have risen significantly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Data released on Wednesday evening by the WHO showed that around 5.8 million new cases had been observed, an increase of about 25%.
New infections went up by 25% or more in the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions, while the increase was lower in Europe and parts of Asia.
A decline was observed on the American continent and an even greater drop was registered in Africa, where the number of new infections went down by a third.
New deaths increased by more than 20% globally. They went up by over 75% in the eastern Mediterranean and by much less in parts of Asia, while the situation remained the same in Europe.
On the other hand, the number of new victims decreased in the Americas, Africa and the Western Pacific.
The Omicron variant was linked to almost all the sequencing done over a one-month period.
In total, more than 6.3 million people have succumbed to the novel Coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. Nearly 560 million have been confirmed infected.
