From Jan. 17 to 23, Covid-19 cases increased 5% compared to the week before with over 21 million new cases reported, the World Health Organization said in its Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published Tuesday.
“Across the six WHO regions, over 21 million new cases were reported, representing the highest number of weekly cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic,” the update said.
The case increases were slower than last week, WHO said, with only half of the six WHO regions reporting an increase of new cases, compared with five of six reporting one the week before.
The largest increase was in the eastern Mediterranean region, 39%, followed by the South-East Asia region, 36% and the European, 13%. The Western Pacific region reported a similar number of cases to the week before. Decreases were reported in the African region, 31%, and the region of the Americas, 10%.
The United States reported the highest number of new cases, followed by France, India, Italy and Brazil.
There have been over 346 million confirmed Covid-19 cases globally as of Jan. 23.
The number of deaths reported, nearly 50,000, was similar to the week before.
Three WHO regions reported increases in the number of deaths, the South-East Asia Region, 44%, the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 15% and the Region of the Americas, 7%. The remaining three regions reported declines in new weekly deaths.
The United States also reported the highest number of new deaths, followed by the Russian Federation, India, Italy and the United Kingdom.
As of Jan. 23, the have been over 5.5 million deaths reported across the world.