With 150 per cent increase in cases, India driving Covid numbers in South-East Asia: WHO

Passengers at Mumbai's CST railway station, on March 20, 2020. (Photo: PTI). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

NEW DELHI, Jan 24, 2022, India Today. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the increase in Covid-19 numbers in South-East Asia is mainly driven by India, where the cases have seen a 150 per cent increase in the last one week, India Today reported.

According to the WHO, India reported 15,94,160 new cases in the week that ended on January 23 as compared to 6,38,872 cases it recorded the previous week.

On Monday, India reported 3,06,064 new cases of Covid-19, 8.2 per cent lower than the previous day.

Read | Omicron will not be last Covid-19 variant, future mutations could be adept at surviving: WHO amid surge

In the eastern Mediterranean region, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from Morocco (31,701 new cases against 4,610 last week with a 45 per cent increase), Lebanon (45,231 new cases against 38,112 last week with a 19 per cent increase), and Tunisia (13,416 new cases against 3,948 last week with a 194 per cent increase).

The WHO also said that the Omicron variant of coronavirus has now been reported in 171 countries in the world.

Though the variant has a lower risk of severe disease and death following infection, the overall risk related to Omicron remains very high.

“Despite a lower risk of severe disease and death following infection than previous SARS-CoV-2 variants, the very high levels of transmission nevertheless have resulted in significant increases in hospitalisation, continue to pose overwhelming demands on health care systems in most countries, and may lead to significant morbidity, particularly in vulnerable populations,” the WHO said.

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