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The WHO has expressed concern as COVID cases have started to surge again with 11 million infections recorded worldwide last week, reversing an over one month declining trend.</p>
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&quot;The increase is occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we&#39;re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,&quot; WHO&#39;s head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.</p>
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A combination of factors was causing the increases, including the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its BA.2 sublineage, and the lifting of public health and social measures, the WHO said.</p>
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Low vaccination rates in some countries, driven partly by a &quot;huge amount of misinformation&quot; also explained the rise, WHO officials explained.</p>
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New infections jumped by 8% globally compared to the previous week and over 43,000 new deaths were reported from March 7-13.</p>
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The biggest jump was in the WHO&#39;s Western Pacific region, which includes South Korea and China, where cases rose by 25% and deaths by 27%.</p>
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Africa also saw a 12% rise in new cases and 14% rise in deaths, and Europe a 2% rise in cases but no jump in deaths. Other regions reported declining cases, including the eastern Mediterranean region, although this area saw a 38% rise in deaths linked to a previous spike in infections.</p>
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A number of experts have raised concerns that Europe faces another coronavirus wave, with case rising since the beginning of March in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.</p>
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WHO&#39;s Maria Van Kerkhove said at the briefing that BA.2 appears to be the most transmissible variant so far.</p>
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However, there are no signs that it causes more severe disease, and no evidence that any other new variants are driving the rise in cases.</p>
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Experts have warned that the United States could soon see a similar wave to that seen in Europe, potentially driven by BA.2, the lifting of restrictions and potential waning immunity from vaccines given several months ago.</p>
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<strong>Also read:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/health-news/israel-detects-new-codi-variant-157741.html">Israel detects new Covid-19 variant</a></strong></p>
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