United Nations: The highly-transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 has now been reported in 135 countries, according to the World Health Organisation which said the cumulative number of coronavirus cases reported globally could exceed 200 million by next week.
The Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update dated August 3, released by WHO, said globally 132 countries have reported cases of the Beta variant and 81 countries of the Gamma variant.
It said the cases of Alpha variant have been reported in 182 countries, territories or areas, while 135 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, which was first identified in India.
The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week—July 26 to August 1, the update said.
“This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 per cent and 33 per cent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 per cent increase,” it said.
Overall, the number of deaths reported this week decreased by 8 per cent as compared to the previous week, with over 64,000 deaths reported.
However, the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean Regions showed a sharp increase in new deaths as compared to the previous week, reporting 48 per cent and 31 per cent increases, respectively.
The cumulative number of cases reported globally is now nearly 197 million and the number of cumulative deaths is 4.2 million.
“If these trends continue, the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million by next week,” the update said.
At the country level, the highest numbers of new cases in the past week were reported by the United States (543,420 new cases; 9 per cent increase), India (283,923 new cases; 7 per cent increase), Indonesia (273,891 new cases; 5 per cent decrease), Brazil (247,830 new cases; 24 per cent decrease), and Iran (206,722 new cases; 27 per cent increase).
The South-East Asia region reported a 9 per cent increase in new cases as compared to the previous week (over 841,000 cases), while the number of weekly deaths remained similar to the previous week (22,000 deaths).
The highest numbers of new cases in the region were reported from India (283,923 new cases; 20.6 new cases per 100,000; 7 per cent increase), Indonesia (273,891 new cases; 100.1 new cases per 100,000; 5 per cent decrease), and Thailand (118,012 new cases; 169.1 new cases per 100,000; 26 per cent increase).
Cases from India, Indonesia and Thailand accounted for 80 per cent of new cases being reported from the region.
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from Indonesia (12,444 new deaths; 4.5 new deaths per 100,000; 28 per cent increase), India (3,800 new deaths; less than one new death per 100,000; 45 per cent decrease), and Myanmar (2620 new deaths; 4.8 new deaths per 100,000; 24 per cent increase). —PTI

Press Trust of India