WHO: 3.4M global virus cases last week, up 12%

World Health Organization says more than 3.4 million new global cases coronavirus Last week, an increase of 12% from the previous week. The United Nations health agency says the number of deaths continues to decline, with nearly 57,000 last week.

At this rate, it is expected that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million over the next three weeks, the WHO says. It notes that the largest increase in COVID-19 cases was in the Western Pacific and European regions. Last week, the WHO said the most coronavirus infections were in Indonesia, Britain, Brazil, India and the US. It said that despite increased vaccination rates in some countries, increased transmission of the virus to new forms, relaxation of COVID-19 protocols and a large number of people still susceptible to the coronavirus.

WHO has urged countries to commit to immunizing at least 40% of each country’s population by the end of the year. Of the more than 3 billion vaccine doses administered globally, only 1% have been received by people in poor countries. (AP).