WHO warns of 'dangerous' variants as COVID cases rise globally

Paris, France, July 16 ------ The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Thursday that “more dangerous” variants of COVID-19 could tear across the world as global infections soared to half a million daily, largely driven by the virulent Delta strain. An AFP tally of official sources found that after an initial dip, cases have been rising again worldwide since the end of June, topping 540,000 on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

“The pandemic is nowhere near finished,” the WHO’s emergency committee said in a statement. It highlighted “the strong likelihood for the emergence and global spread of new and possibly more dangerous variants of concern that may be even more challenging to control”. The virus has reappeared in places long believed to have dodged the worst of the pandemic, with Australia — lauded for its successful “COVID zero” strategy — facing a resurgence that has grown to almost 1,000 cases nationwide in a month.

About 12 million Australians went under stay-at-home orders in the country’s second biggest city Melbourne, joining residents in Sydney. State premier Dan Andrews said he took the decision to return the city — and surrounding Victoria — to its fifth lockdown “with a heavy heart”. “Nothing about this virus is fair,” he said.

Africa deaths surge

Countries where healthcare infrastructure — and vaccine rollout capabilities — remain limited are under particular pressure, with Rwanda set to put the capital Kigali and eight other districts under lockdown from Saturday. The East African nation had previously avoided the worst of the pandemic by enforcing some of the strictest containment measures on the continent. But hospitals have been overwhelmed in recent weeks, with a critical shortage of beds and medicines. Overall, coronavirus-linked deaths in Africa surged by 43 percent in the space of week, driven by a lack of intensive-care beds and oxygen, the WHO said Thursday.

Source: mb.com.ph