Medical workers move a patient to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sotiria Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), in Athens, Greece, March 1, 2021.
Giorgos Moutafis | Reuters
World Health Organization officials said Wednesday that scientists are trying to understand why Covid-19 cases suddenly tick in much of the world after weeks of falling infections.
2.6 million new cases were reported worldwide last week, up 7% from the previous week, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update reflecting data received since Sunday morning. This is followed by six consecutive weeks of new cases of decline around the world.
The reversal could be caused by the emergence of several new, more contagious variants of coronavirus, the relaxation of public measures and the so-called pandemic fatigue, in which people get tired of following precautions, the WHO said in its weekly report. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO unit for emerging diseases and zoonoses, said in a question and answer event at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday that the global health agency is trying to better understand what is causing the reversal of trends in each region and country.
“I can tell you that what worries us is the introduction of vaccines and vaccination in several countries, we still need people to carry out their measures at the individual level,” she said, urging people to practice physical distance and continue to wear masks when you are around others.
“Seeing this week of rising trends, it’s a pretty stern warning to all of us that we need to stay on track,” Van Kerkhove said. “We must continue to follow these measures at hand.”
Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergency Program, suggested that the increase could be due to the fact that “we may relax a little before the full impact of vaccination is achieved”. He added that he understands the temptation to socialize more and return to more normal behavior, but “the problem is every time I did this before the virus exploited it.”
Ryan reiterated that the cause of the increase in cases remains unclear, but added that tried and true public health measures that have been exacerbated during the pandemic are still effective.
“When cases go down, we never do everything we do, and when they go up, it’s never our fault,” he said.
Ryan noted that deaths have not increased with the cases yet, but that could change in the coming weeks. We hope that, he said, an increase in deaths can be avoided due to vaccination of those most vulnerable to the disease.
While the launch of vaccines is cause for optimism in some countries, Ryan noted that many nations around the world have not yet received doses. He said 80% of the doses were given in just 10 countries.
WHO’s remarks echo those made recently by US federal officials. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been warning for days that the decline of new daily cases in the United States has stopped and ticked up.
In the past seven days, the United States has reported an average of more than 65,400 new cases daily, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. This is well below the peak of about 250,000 new cases each day that the country reported in early January, but it is still well above the rate of infection the US saw in the summer when the virus crossed the Sun Belt.
“At this level of cases, with widespread variations, we will completely lose the hard-won ground we have gained,” Walensky said Monday. “With these statistics, I am really concerned that more states will withdraw the exact public health measures that we have recommended to protect people from Covid-19.”
“Please hear me clearly: at this level of cases with widespread variations, we will completely lose the hard-won ground we have won,” she said.