Chennai: Coronavirus infections are rising across most regions of the world as the delta variant spreads, clear evidence that the pandemic isn’t on the wane, said the World Health Organisation’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan.
In an interview to Bloomberg Television, she said that most parts of the world have been facing a shortage of medical oxygen, a lack of hospital beds and higher mortality rates while the vaccination levels in some countries have been mitigating severe cases of infection and also the hospitalisation.
“In the last 24 hours, close to 500,000 new cases have been reported and about 9,300 deaths — now that’s not a pandemic that’s slowing down,” she added.
Cases are rising in five of six WHO regions, and mortality rates in Africa have jumped by 30% to 40% in two weeks, said Swaminathan. The main reason for the increases are the fast-spreading delta variant, slow vaccination rollouts globally and the relaxation of safety measures like mask mandates and physical distancing rules.