Overall COVID-19 cases declined again last week, down 6% compared to the week before, but some Western Asian nations such as Singapore are experiencing a steady surge in cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest update on the pandemic.Though cases as a whole are slowly declining, European health officials have been tracking rises in a number of European countries, and now some nations in Asia, including Singapore, are reporting spikes in cases.
Health officials have said they expect cases to rise as people in the Northern Hemisphere gather indoors during the cooler months, but the emergence of several more Omicron subvariants adds uncertainty about how the patterns will take shape in the months ahead.WHO closely watching XBB Omicron subvariantOf about 2.9 million new cases reported to the WHO last week, the five countries that reported the most were Germany, France, China, Italy, and the United States.At a WHO media briefing today, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said the WHO's COVID-19 emergency committee met last week to discuss the latest developments.
He said they recommend keeping the public health emergency of international concern (PEHIC) in place, urging countries to strengthen surveillance, testing, treatment, and vaccination, especially for high-risk groups."While the global situation has obviously improved since the pandemic began, the virus continues to change, and there remain many risks and uncertainties," Tedros said. "This pandemic has surprised us before and very well could again."Five of the WHO's six regions reported declining cases last week, but cases rose 11% in the Western Pacific region, with Singapore, Vietnam, and Brunei Darussalam reporting the