WHO records 17 per cent drop in COVID-19 cases globally

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has continued to see a decline in COVID-19 cases globally, with a 17 per cent drop compared with last week.

The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, in a speech posted on its website on Friday, stated that the number of deaths had also reduced.

Ghebreyesus, speaking at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, said, “this is the fourth week of declining cases.

“The number of deaths also fell for the second week in a row, with 88,000 new deaths reported last week – a terrible number, but a 10 per cent decline from the previous week.

“These declines appear to be due to countries implementing public health measures more stringently.’

“But remember, we have been here before. Now is not the time to relax measures or for any of us to let down our guard.

“Every life that is lost now is all the more tragic as vaccines are now being rolled out; the virus continues to circulate widely and new variants are emerging.

“This is not an unexpected development, but it gives a new urgency to our global efforts to bring this pandemic under control.

“Every time the virus mutates, it has the potential to blunt the effectiveness of our vaccines, medicines and tests,” he said.