US reported 35% increase in new Covid-19 cases last week, India 2% decline: WHO

The United States reported the highest number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases among all countries last week, registering a worrying 35% increase in new infections from the previous week, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus has become the dominant strain across the globe as many countries are reimposing restrictions to contain the virus.

In its weekly epidemiological report, the UN health agency said that the US, India, Iran, Brazil, and Indonesia reported the most number of Covid-19 cases. While India, Brazil and Indonesia witnessed a decline in infections from the previous week, the United States and Iran reported a huge spike with 734,354 and 248,102 new Covid-19 cases respectively.

The regions reporting the highest weekly infections and related deaths per capita remained the same as the previous week. While the Regions of the Americas and Europe reported the highest weekly incidence in cases, the Regions of the Americas, Europe and South-East Asia reported the highest weekly incidence of deaths.

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The Delta variant was reported from seven additional countries last week, taking the total number of countries reporting the variant of concern to 142, as per the WHO report. Citing a study, the UN health agency highlighted that the viral load of the first positive test of Delta infections was approximately 1,000 times higher than that of the original strain.

“Another report by Public Health England showed similar findings of high viral loads among breakthrough cases infected with Delta. However, the authors highlighted that the results may be influenced by test-seeking behaviour or by changes, such as age distribution of cases, which can also influence cycle threshold (Ct) values,” the report said.