Covid, Omicron 2 and infections: increase in cases and decrease in deaths, WHO numbers

The more covid infections, the fewer deaths. This is the picture that the WHO outlines while, also in Italy, the spotlights are turned on on the increase in cases and on the possible effect of the Omicron 2 variant. “After a significant decrease since the end of January 2022, for the second consecutive week it is increased the number of new cases “of Covid-19 globally, with a + 7% in the period 14-20 March (the rise was 8% from 7 to 13 March). On the death front, however, “a decreasing trend” is consolidated, with a -23% in the last 7 days (-17% in the previous 7), emerges from the latest weekly report of the World Health Organization, which however still places Italy among the top three countries in Europe for recorded deaths. In total, over 12 million new cases and just under 33,000 deaths were reported in the 6 WHO regions from 14 to 20 March. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the total infections have thus exceeded 468 million, while the total deaths are more than 6 million. In the last 7 days, new cases have increased in the Western Pacific region (+ 21%), appear stable in the European one and are decreasing in the Eastern Mediterranean (-41%), Africa (-33%), Southeast Asia (-23%) regions. ) and the Americas (-17%). Deaths are rising only in the Western Pacific region (+ 5%), while they drop in the others: the Americas -42%, the Eastern Mediterranean -38%, Africa -19%, Europe -18% and Southeast Asia -18%. “These trends should be interpreted with caution – however, the report specifies – since various countries are progressively modifying their testing strategies, with a reduction in the total number of swabs performed and therefore in the cases detected”. The highest number of new weekly cases was reported by the Republic of Korea (2,817,214, + 34%), Vietnam (1,888,694, + 13%), Germany (1,538,666, + 14%), France (582,344 , + 39%) and Australia (513,388, + 161%), while the peak of new deaths was recorded by the Russian Federation (3,681, -19%), United States (3,612, -58%), Brazil (2,242, -32 %), The Republic of Korea (2,033, + 41%) and China (1,921, -2%). Zooming in on Europe, “the number of new weekly cases seems to have stabilized – indicates the WHO – with over 5.2 million “of infections from 14 to 20 March; Countries in the region that report increases of 20% or more dropped from 12 to 10. Deaths continue to decrease, to 13 thousand in the last 7 days with a -18% compared to the previous 7. The highest number of new deaths was reported by the Russian Federation (3,681, -19%), followed by Germany (1,345, -8%) and Italy (910, -9%).