The numbers of new cases and deaths from Covid-19 have continued to decline since late March, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). During the week of April 18-24, over 4.5 million cases and over 15,000 deaths were reported worldwide. The indices represent declines of 21% and 20%, respectively, compared to the previous week.
In the weekly bulletin released this Wednesday (27), the WHO warns of the increase in the number of weekly infections recorded in the Americas, up 9%, and in Africa, up 32%. The number of deaths increased by 41% in Southeast Asia, due to a delay in reporting deaths by India, and by 110% in Africa.
As of April 24, more than 500 million cases and more than six million deaths from the disease have been confirmed worldwide.
Among countries, the highest numbers of new weekly cases were reported in Germany (675,022 new cases; down 13%), South Korea (589,442; -39%), France (542,896; -34%), Italy (419,374; -1%) and the United States (298,306; +21%).
The highest numbers of new weekly deaths were recorded in the United States (2,354 new deaths; down 24%), Russia (1,402; -21%), South Korea (1,041; -38%), Italy (1,007; +7%) and United Kingdom (903; -47%).
Variant monitoring
The Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus remains the predominant strain circulating in the world. Among the 257,337 sequences available in the international Gisaid database, from samples collected in the last 30 days, 256,684 (99.7%) were Ômicron, 47 (<0.1%) were Delta and 555 (0.2%) sequences were not assigned to a lineage.
The WHO considers that although the decrease in sequences is consistent with the general trend of decrease in new cases, the indices may also reflect changes in epidemiological surveillance policies in some countries.
Given the changes in sampling and sequencing strategies, the WHO recommends that countries maintain genomic surveillance of the virus.
Since the emergence of Ômicron in November 2021, the virus has continued to evolve, giving rise to many descendant and recombinant lineages. The WHO stated that it continuously monitors the different strains and that the genetic diversification of Ômicron indicates a pressure of the virus to adapt to human hosts.
According to the WHO, each strain has additional or different mutations. However, the impacts of each mutation or constellation of mutations are not currently well known by the scientific community, which requires monitoring of any associated changes in the epidemiology of the disease.
Source: CNN Brasil
