Pandemic slows worldwide except for regions: WHO

FE Team | Published: August 25, 2020 23:30:59

The Covid-19 pandemic is still expanding, but the rise in cases and deaths has slowed globally, except for south Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, report agencies.
In its latest epidemiological update, issued on Monday night, it said that the Americas remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for half of newly reported cases and 62 per cent of the 39,240 deaths worldwide in the past week.
The pandemic has killed at least 818,265 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to www.worldometers.info tally Tuesday.
More than 23.87 million cases have been registered in 213 countries and territories.
The United States has recorded the most deaths with 177,284, followed by Brazil with 115,309, Mexico with 60,800, India with 58,390 and Britain with 41,433 fatalities.
"Over 1.7 million new COVID-19 cases and 39,000 new deaths were reported to WHO for the week ending 23 August, a 4 per cent decrease in the number of cases and (a 12 per cent decrease) in the number of deaths compared to the previous week," the WHO said.
South Asia, the second most affected region, reported a jump accounting for 28 per cent of new cases and 15 per cent of deaths, it said. India continues to report the majority of cases, but the virus is also spreading rapidly in Nepal.
India reported more than 60,000 new coronavirus cases for a seventh straight day on Tuesday, as infections moved beyond cities and spread further into smaller towns.
India reported 60,975 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 3.17 million, data from the federal health ministry showed. Deaths rose by 848, taking the total number to 58,390.
In WHO's eastern Mediterranean region, the number of reported cases rose by 4 per cent, but the number of reported deaths has consistently dropped over the last six weeks, the WHO said. Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan reported the highest increase in cases compared to the previous week.
The number of cases and deaths reported across Africa decreased by 8 per cent and 11 per cent respectively in the past week, "primarily due to a decrease in cases reported in Algeria, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa", it said.
"In the European region, the number of cases reported has consistently increased over the last three weeks," it said. "However, only a slight decrease (1%) was reported in the most recent week, and the number of deaths have continued to decrease across the region."
In WHO's western Pacific region, the number of new cases dropped by 5%, driven by less spread in Japan, Australia, Singapore, China and Vietnam. South Korea reported an 180% jump in cases, "mainly due to an increase in cases associated with religious gatherings".
Another report adds: Trial data for the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca's possible coronavirus vaccine could be given to regulators this year but corners cannot be cut to speed up approval for emergency use, a scientist leading the trials said on Tuesday.
The Oxford vaccine produced an immune response in its first human trials, underlining its position as one of the leading candidates in the race to combat a virus that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and crippled the global economy.
"It is just possible that if the cases accrue rapidly in the clinical trials, that we could have that data before regulators this year," Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told BBC Radio of progress in larger, late-stage trials.
"Then there would be a process that they go through in order to make a full assessment of the data."
The trials hit the headlines earlier this week when the Financial Times reported the Trump administration was considering fast-tracking the vaccine for use in the United States ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
One option being explored would involve the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarding "emergency use authorization" in October to the potential vaccine, the newspaper said.