WHO: Lowest Number of Corona Deaths Since October, But More Infections

From June 28 to July 4, the World Health Organization WHO has counted the lowest number of corona deaths since the beginning of October. Worldwide, fewer than 54,000 people died from Covid-19 in those seven days. This made the number of deaths 7 percent lower than a week earlier.

On the other hand, the number of infections is increasing. In the week of June 28 to July 4, 2.6 million new infections were counted. Since the start of the pandemic, the WHO has identified 183 million infections worldwide and has counted almost 4 million corona deaths. The actual numbers are probably much higher, as many countries are not able to detect and register all infections.

According to the WHO, the number of infections is rising again, especially in Europe, by 30 percent compared to the week before. This is at least partly due to the advance of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. It is much more contagious than previous variants of the virus. The Delta variant has now been officially established in 104 of the 194 countries that are members of the WHO.

In the European Union, 62 percent of the population has had at least one vaccination shot. 45 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. One problem is that the widely used Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine seems less effective once the Delta variant becomes dominant in a country.

According to research from the Ministry of Health in Israel, the vaccine’s effectiveness dropped to 64 percent after the Delta variant became the most common version of the virus. However, in February, the vaccine still worked in 95 percent of cases in Israel. However, the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech in Israel still causes a 93 percent decrease in the number of severe illnesses and hospitalizations.

At the beginning of July, the WHO warned that a new wave of contamination in Europe is inevitable if citizens and governments show no discipline. People have recently been meeting up more often, more is being travelled, and all kinds of measures have been removed to prevent the spread of the virus. That is extra risky now that the Delta variant is popping up and becoming dominant in more and more places in the world.