In this file photo taken on February 25, 2021 a worker wearing a protective suit and carrying an umbrella walks past the graves of COVID-19 victims at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery, in Manaus, Brazil. (MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP)
BEIJING / ADDIS ABABA / ALGIERS – In a statement released Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the COVID-19 pandemic remains a "public health emergency of international concern," a day before WHO statistics showed the global caseload passed the 500-million threshold.
Under such circumstances, some nations have chosen to lift their restrictions due to gloomy economic outlooks, insufficient policy implementation and general fatigue in fighting the virus.
Experts have raised the alarm that the pandemic is far from ending, as humans have yet to completely solve the COVID-19 maze.
Since last November when the Omicron strain was first found, the world's caseload almost doubled in less than six months, with more than 1 million deaths — roughly equivalent to the population of a medium-sized city
Since last November when the Omicron strain was first found, the world's caseload almost doubled in less than six months, with more than 1 million deaths — roughly equivalent to the population of a medium-sized city.
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This partly explained why the WHO said in the statement that the COVID-19 virus "is continuing to cause high levels of morbidity and mortality, particularly among vulnerable human populations."
In the United States, about 80 million cases have been registered and the national death toll is close to one million. India and Brazil follow behind, with confirmed cases exceeding 43 million and 30 million, respectively, according to data from the WHO.
Though recent updates indicate a decreasing trend in new cases and deaths, over 7 million cases and 22,000 deaths were reported during the week of April 4-10, causing unbearable losses to numerous families.
These trends should be interpreted with caution, the WHO particularly reminded, as several countries are adjusting their testing strategies, which has resulted in lower numbers of tests performed and cases detected.
Despite a reduction in severity, the WHO pointed out, the massive increases in Omicron-infected cases have led to a large number of hospitalizations and greater pressure on healthcare systems.
In some countries, there are similar or even higher numbers of deaths when compared to previous peaks, it added.
For countries worldwide, a shared goal is to contain the COVID-19 spread and reduce its threats to humans. But after rounds of efforts without coming by a workable solution, some have decided to drop their restrictions, including those on travel, socializing, mask-wearing, testing and vaccination. COVID-19 cases and deaths, as a result, ticked up once again.
Anthony Fauci, the top American infectious disease expert, has recently said that he expects "an uptick in cases" over the next few weeks due to the Omicron subvariant BA.2 in the United States, where states and cities have moved to lift restrictions, and that the subvariant is about 50-60 percent more transmissible than the first Omicron strain.
The United States is now averaging about 30,000 new cases, 500 deaths and 1,400 hospitalizations every day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Encouragingly, vaccination rates in some parts of the world keep rising and a downward trend has been observed in new infections and deaths. However, it may not yet be time to get too optimistic.
As WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted in a recent speech, transmission remains very high, vaccination coverage remains very low in too many countries, and the relaxation of many public health and social measures is allowing continued transmission, with the risk of new variants emerging.
"We are pleased to see a downward trend, but the pandemic is still far from over," he stressed.
A healthcare worker speaks with a woman queuing for a PCR Covid-19 test at the Lancet laboratory in Johannesburg on Nov 30, 2021. (EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
Africa
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Africa reached 11,378,423 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union said the death toll across the continent stands at 251,756 while some 10,749,930 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
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South Africa has recorded the most COVID-19 cases in Africa with 3,740,398 cases, while northern African countries Morocco and Tunisia reported 1,164,345 and 1,038,668 cases, respectively, it said.
In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, according to the Africa CDC.
Algeria
The Algerian Health Ministry said on Sunday that no new COVID-19 cases were reported over the past 24 hours for the first time since the outbreak of the disease two years ago.
The overall number of cases stabilized at 265,739, and the death toll remained at 6,874, while the number of recoveries reached 178,335, according to the ministry.
Algeria registered its highest 2,521 daily infections on Jan. 25, 2022, while a record daily death toll of 49 was reported on July 28, 2021.
The first COVID-19 case was reported in the North African country on Feb 25, 2020.
