WHO: Overall COVID-19 death toll down 9%, infections stable

Coronavirus deaths fell by 9% last week, while new cases remained relatively stable, according to the World Health Organization’s latest weekly pandemic report on Wednesday.

The United Nations health agency said there were more than 14,000 COVID-19 deaths and nearly 7 million new infections last week. Cases reported in the Western Pacific increased by 30%, while those reported in Africa fell by 46%. Cases in the Americas and the Middle East also fell by more than 20%.

New deaths in the Middle East rose by 19%, while they fell by more than 70% in Africa, 15% in Europe and 10% in the Americas.

Also read | Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet: COVID-19, lockdowns, mass testing expose China’s policy failures

The omicron sub-variant BA.5 remains dominant globally, accounting for nearly 70% of all viral sequences shared with the world’s largest publicly available virus database, WHO said. The agency said the prevalence of other omicron sub-variants, including BA.4 and BA.2, appeared to be declining as BA.5 took over.

The WHO has warned that its assessment of COVID-19 trends remains affected as most countries ease pandemic control measures and countries forgo many testing, surveillance and sequencing efforts.

Also read | New Zealand: Coronavirus now leading cause of death for the first time

Still, Chinese authorities announced new restrictions this week after cases of COVID-19 were detected on the tourist islands of Hainan and Tibet. Earlier this week, the Chinese government closed the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the traditional residence of the Dalai Lama, and blocked Haikou, the capital of Hainan province, and several other cities, including the beach resort of Sanya.

About 80,000 tourists were stranded in Sanya this week before being allowed to leave, after Chinese officials declared it a COVID-19 hotspot and asked people to test negative five times a week.

On Tuesday, the Chinese government sent the first batch of 125 tourists out of Sanya, and said it would organize other flights to be sent out in batches once they met the departure conditions.

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