Global coronavirus cases experienced their “first substantial decline” in more than two months last week, the World Health Organization reported Tuesday. However, cases in the United States remain very high, especially among children, according to a separate pediatric report.
New cases of COVID-19 fell last week in the six global regions in which the WHO operates: Africa, America, the eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, compared to the previous week. The total number of deaths reported worldwide also decreased compared to the previous week, according to the WHO weekly case report, which added about 4 million new cases, below 4.4 million.
The Americas and Europe reported the highest weekly rates of COVID-19 cases and related deaths. This was similar to the previous week. The United States continues to report the highest number of new cases, with one million added last week. The UK came in second, with 256,000 new cases, followed by India with 248,000 new cases.
Daniel Harvey Gonzalez through Getty Images Shoppers pass a sign encouraging people to wear masks to reduce coronavirus transmission outside a Tesco supermarket. According to the WHO, the UK has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases.
Case loads have generally been rising in the United States since early summer, although there has been a recent decline in the seven-day average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This weekly rise has been seen largely in the south, especially in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and South Carolina, where vaccination rates have remained low and elected leaders have vowed to fight vaccine and mask mandates. Although Florida had long been a hot spot for the coronavirus, with its governor launching its own fight against these mandates, the state has seen new cases fall in recent weeks and has surpassed 31 states in its vaccination dose rate administered per 100,000 people, according to CDC data.
CDC.gov Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and South Carolina, seen in navy blue, have some of the highest seven-day COVID-19 case rates per 100,000 people in the country.
Collectively, 63% of people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 54% are completely vaccinated, according to the CDC. The WHO has said that all countries should achieve a 70% vaccination rate by mid-2022 to control the pandemic, although no low-income country has achieved any of its lowest targets since this month.
“High-income countries have now administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people. Meanwhile, low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses per 100 people, due to lack of supply, ”the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that this vaccination gap allows the virus to continue to spread and mutate, which poses a greater risk to everyone.
healthdata.gov The number of coronavirus vaccines given daily in the United States has stood since June. According to a recent report from the White House COVID-19 team, this occurred in April.
“This not only hurts the people of Africa, but it hurts us all,” he said. “The longer the inequality of vaccines persists, the more the virus will continue to circulate and change, the longer the economic and social disruption will continue, and the greater the chances that more variants will appear that will make vaccines less effective.”
The chief executive of the European Union announced on Wednesday that it will give 200 million doses of vaccine to the poorest countries by the middle of next year to help reduce that gap. This donation is made after the EU has previously committed to 250 million doses.
Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 among children have continued to rise to an almost record number in the United States, according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
aap.org Pediatric cases of COVID-19 have been steadily increasing since July. According to a weekly report by two health organizations, children accounted for 15.5% of all new cases of COVID-19 reported in the U.S. last week.
More than 243,000 children tested positive for the virus last week, accounting for 15.5% of all new cases, according to the report. This was the second highest number of pediatric cases in a week since the pandemic began. About 252,000 new cases of coronavirus among children were reported last week, compared to 8,447 new cases reported in the week of June 24.
“After declining in early summer, children’s cases have increased exponentially, with nearly 500,000 cases in the past two weeks,” both health organizations said in a statement.
The WHO, in its own report this week, expressed concern that cases among children could be reported because children tend to have milder symptoms than adults, which could lead to less evidence. . Although their symptoms are milder, they are still able to transmit the disease.
“If children and adolescents with mild or asymptomatic symptoms also transmit the disease, they can also contribute to the transmission to the community,” the WHO said in its weekly report.
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