W.H.O. Reports Global Coronavirus Cases Jump 11% with Americas Leading the Way

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) reported late Tuesday the number of global coronavirus cases jumped by 11 percent over the last seven days compared to the previous week, with the biggest increase in the Americas. The gain builds on a gradual increase since October.

The U.N. health agency delivered an overview stating some 4.99 million newly reported cases around the world from Dec. 20-26.

Europe accounted for more than half the total, with 2.84 million, though that amounted to barely a three percent increase over the previous week. It also had the highest infection rate of any region, with 304.6 new cases per 100,000 residents.

The Chinese Communist government on Monday also admitted to its worst coronavirus case numbers in over 20 months, as Breitbart News reported.

The governing regime acknowledged 200 new coronavirus infections, 150 of them in Xi’an, a provincial capital with a population of 13 million that has been under strict lockdown for the past week. Xi’an has now logged a total of 810 cases, including a 38-day-old infant boy.

W.H.O. said new cases elsewhere in the Americas rose 39 percent to nearly 1.48 million, and the region had the second-highest infection rate with 144.4 new cases per 100,000 residents. The U.S. alone saw more than 1.18 million cases, a 34 percent increase, even as nation-wide vaccination programs remain in full swing.

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The seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 on Tuesday, with Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia particularly hard hit.

Meanwhile the BBC reports in Europe:

          Infections in Italy topped 78,000 cases, hitting a new record since the start of the pandemic. It also recorded 202 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 136,753

As of 26 December, over 278 million cases and just under 5.4 million deaths have been reported globally as restrictions return in many countries.

European Countries Bring Back Mandatory Outdoor Mask Wearing As Covid Cases Surgehttps://t.co/Ei1RpMntZl

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 24, 2021

It noted a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the U.K. and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization with omicron.

But it cautioned more data is needed “to understand the clinical markers of severity including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death, and how severity may be impacted by vaccination and/or prior … infection.”

AP contributed to this report

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