New concerns are rising as countries in Africa, the Americas, and Europe battle new COVID surges and a rise in Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant cases in Israel.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have characterized a “two-track” pandemic. It consists of higher-income countries driving down cases as vaccination efforts gain traction, contrasted with others struggling with new or ongoing surges, due to a host of factors, including scarce vaccines, more transmissible variants, and social mixing.
WHO officials warned that a steady global decline is slowing down, with some countries across all regions grappling with surges.
In its weekly health emergencies report, the WHO’s African regional office said today that Africa’s cases last week rose for the sixth week in a row and were up 31% compared to the week before. A third surge underway in South Africa made up more than 58% of cases, but officials said high case numbers there and in Eritrea, Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda, and Zambia are concerning. They also said health worker infections continue to rise in many countries. Deaths also rose last week. So far, the Delta (B1617.2) variant has been detected in 14 African countries.
Though the region is making progress with vaccination, the global supply imbalance is still serious, with only 1% of the population immunized against COVID-19.
As more transmissible variants keep all countries on edge, Israel yesterday reported 125 cases after seeing numbers plummet to the single digits earlier this month, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
The head of the country’s health ministry said 70% of cases involve the Delta variant, and that half of those are children, and that one-third of those cases are vaccinated. The illnesses are stemming from several local outbreaks, including one involving staff at a school.
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