COVID-19: 75,000 deaths last week, but fewer fresh cases: WHO explains why

Even though there were over 75,000 COVID-related deaths globally in the past week, the number of recorded coronavirus infections was significantly lower compared to the previous week. World Health Organization (WHO), however, cautioned that the number of cases was low due to the drop in testing rates globally.

At the peak of the pandemic, the highest week ever recorded was nearly 110,000 deaths and was considered the worst week in the pandemic. We are at 75,000. WHO officials said it was not a very long way from there.

“So, we are seeing that the number of cases seems to be going down and still the number of deaths is increasing and when you look at that trend epidemiologically, you ask yourself the question, is it real? Is? How are the deaths increasing and the number of cases going down?” said WHO’s Mike Ryan.

Now, it could be that the deaths we are seeing now are from a few weeks ago and that is one explanation. The explanation is that testing rates have dropped significantly in many countries. So, countries that are claiming to say that our transmission has come down and we have got two to three times less cases this week than we had six weeks ago, look at the testing rates and you see that the testing rates are very high. Less is less, Ryan pointed out.

The United Nations health agency released its weekly report on COVID-19 on Thursday and according to it, there were more than 16 million new COVID-19 infections and nearly 75,000 deaths worldwide last week.

The Western Pacific was the only region to report an increase in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%, with Southeast Asia recording a decrease of about 37%, the biggest drop globally. The number of deaths increased by 38% in the Middle East and by almost a third in the Western Pacific.

Russia saw the largest number of new COVID-19 cases. Cases in Eastern Europe and elsewhere have doubled in recent weeks, driven by the growth of the Omicron variant.