New concerns are rising as countries in Africa, the Americas, and Europe battle new COVID surges and a rise in Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant cases in Israel.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have characterized a “two-track” pandemic. It consists of higher-income countries driving down cases as vaccination efforts gain traction, contrasted with others struggling with new or ongoing surges, due to a host of factors, including scarce vaccines, more transmissible variants, and social mixing.
WHO officials warned that a steady global decline is slowing down, with some countries across all regions grappling with surges.
In its weekly health emergencies report, the WHO’s African regional office said today that Africa’s cases last week rose for the sixth week in a row and were up 31% compared to the week before. A third surge underway in South Africa made up more than 58% of cases, but officials said high case numbers there and in Eritrea, Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda, and Zambia are concerning. They also said health worker infections continue to rise in many countries. Deaths also rose last week. So far, the Delta (B1617.2) variant has been detected in 14 African countries.
Though the region is making progress with vaccination, the global supply imbalance is still serious, with only 1% of the population immunized against COVID-19.
As more transmissible variants keep all countries on edge, Israel yesterday reported 125 cases after seeing numbers plummet to the single digits earlier this month, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
The head of the country’s health ministry said 70% of cases involve the Delta variant, and that half of those are children, and that one-third of those cases are vaccinated. The illnesses are stemming from several local outbreaks, including one involving staff at a school.
- Amid a surge in Russia with Moscow as the country’s hot spot, city officials added new restrictions that restrict bars and restaurants to people who have been vaccinated or have had previous infections, according to Reuters. Also, amid worries about slow vaccine uptake, the Kremlin warned that unvaccinated people and those without immunity from natural infection will face limited employment options, due to the threat they pose to other people.
- In the Philippines, another country struggling with lukewarm vaccine uptake, President Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised address yesterday that those who refuse to be immunized may face jail time.
- China signaled today that it will keep its border restrictions for another year, due to worries over more transmissible variants, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The global total has climbed to 178,770,932 cases, with at least 3,872,909 deaths