According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the pandemic is “growing exponentially”. Global reports recorded over 4.4 million new Covid-19 cases over the last week alone. New coronavirus cases surged 9% globally during the last week, while deaths climbed by 5%.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s technical lead for Covid-19, said “we’re at a critical point of the pandemic,” while several countries started removing or easing restrictions.
“This is not the situation we want to be in 16 months into a pandemic where we have proven control measures. It is the time right now where everyone has to take stock. And have a reality check of what we need to be doing,” she said during a press briefing. “Vaccines and vaccinations are coming online, but they aren’t here yet in every part of the world.”
WHO says Covid-19 has become “stronger” and “faster”
The rise in Covid-19 infections and deaths was expected, since the WHO warned last month that not sticking to social distancing and mask mandates will cause the virus to come back “stronger” and “faster”. This is due to the new variants appearing in several countries. For instance the most circulating variants are the ones found in United Kingdom and South Africa.
