Global Covid cases could exceed 200 mn by next week: WHO

United Nations: The highly-transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 has now been reported in 135 countries, according to the World Health Organisation which said the cumulative number of coronavirus cases reported globally could exceed 200 million by next week.

The Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update dated August 3, released by WHO, said globally 132 countries have reported cases of the Beta variant and 81 countries of the Gamma variant. It said the cases of Alpha variant have been reported in 182 countries, territories or areas, while 135 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, which was first identified in India.

The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week - July 26 to August 1, the update said. "This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 per cent and 33 per cent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 per cent increase," it said.

Overall, the number of deaths reported this week decreased by 8 per cent as compared to the previous week, with over 64,000 deaths reported. However, the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean Regions showed a sharp increase in new deaths as compared to the previous week, reporting 48 per cent and 31 per cent increases, respectively.

At the country level, the highest numbers of new cases in the past week were reported by the United States (543,420 new cases; 9 per cent increase), India (283,923 new cases; 7 per cent increase), Indonesia (273,891 new cases; 5 per cent decrease), Brazil (247,830 new cases; 24 per cent decrease), and Iran (206,722 new cases; 27 per cent increase).

Amid the growing cases of Delta variant and vaccine inequity, WHO called for a "moratorium" on booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine until at least the end of September, noting with concern the disparity in vaccination levels in low and high-income countries.