There’s a jump in infections with 11 million new cases reported from 7 March to 13 March. The WHO is calling it the “tip of the iceberg”
Nearly half of Hong Kong’s population is infected with COVID-19. AP
The pandemic is far from over. There has been a spike in cases in several countries across the world, especially in Asia, where lockdowns are back.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) sounded a warning to nations, as they become lackadaisical with a drop in testing. After more than a month of decline, COVID-19 cases have started to increase around the world last week, the WHO said on Tuesday.
New infections jumped by eight per cent globally compared to the previous week, with 11 million new cases and just over 43,000 new deaths reported from 7 March to 13 March. It is the first rise since the end of January, reported news agency Reuters.
“These increase are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we’re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” warned WHO’s head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus while talking to the media.
Which are the countries which are seeing a rise in coronavirus cases? And how worried should India be? We answer a few questions.
According to WHO, the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its BA.2 sublineage have been fast-spreading, as countries relax social-distancing measures and other public health norms.
Parts of China under lockdown
The situation is worsening in China and South Korea, where deaths have risen by 27 per cent and cases by 25 per cent.
On Tuesday, China witnessed 5,280 new infections, two times more than the previous day. It forced the country to put more than 30 million under lockdown – 13 cities were fully locked down and in other cities partial restrictions were imposed.
The worst-hit was the northeastern province of Jilin; Shenzhen – the southern tech hub of 17.5 million people – was forced to shut factories, and China’s largest city Shanghai has partial restrictions.
After the flare-up, new symptomatic local cases have declined. The country reported 1,226 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections with confirmed symptoms on 16 March.
South Korea records 6 lakh daily cases
The country recorded more than 600,000 new infections on Thursday, the most in the world. However, it has one of the lowest death rates globally.
On Thursday, the daily cases were at 621,320; hospitalisations have doubled but the intensive care unit capacity is at 65 per cent.
Yet the outbreak is not out of control and it’s because of the consistent deployment of mass-testing. Combined with an 88 per cent vaccination rate – and one of the highest booster shot take-ups in the world, especially among the elderly – South Korea has delivered a fatality rate of 0.14 per cent, reports news agency Bloomberg.
Half of Hong Kong infected
In Hong Kong, the Omicron wave has hit late. On 16 March, the country had over 14,000 cases.
The city with “zero-Covid” policy is now seeing the highest death rate in the word, according to Our World in Data. The death rate in Hong Kong has soared this month, surpassing 25 per 100,000 residents in the past week, reports The New York Times.
Since the end of December, over 760,000 infections have been reported, with more than 4,300 deaths. Now almost half of Hong Kong’s population of 7.4 million has been affected as of 14 March.
Hospitals and morgues are overflowing. The low vaccination rates among Hong Kong’s older people is making matters worse.
The lack of business has forced many shops to down shutters. Gyms and bars have been shut since January and won’t open until mid-April, reports The Associated Press.
It’s a big setback for the city which has gone for months without falling prey to the pandemic.
A surge from Africa to Europe
Africa has seen a 12 per cent rise in new cases and 14 per cent rise in deaths, according to a Reuters report. Cases are also rising in New Zealand and Singapore.
Europe has often been a few weeks before the US with Covid trends — and cases are now rising in Britain, Germany, Italy and some other parts of Europe. The main cause appears to be an even more contagious version of omicron, known as BA.2, reports NYT.
India on alert mode
With a surge in cases in Asia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday. He has reportedly asked authorities to do some aggressive genome sequencing of samples to detect new variants if any. Local bodies have been instructed to intensify surveillance to identify hotspots early on.
For now, India is reporting a decline in cases. On Wednesday, the country reported 2,539 new cases.
With inputs from agencies
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