WHO: Weekly COVID-19 deaths down 17 percent, but cases climb

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the number of new coronavirus deaths declined by 17 percent over the last week, though cases of the virus continue to climb.

WHO’s weekly report, which was released on Tuesday, revealed that in the last week over 11 million new COVID-19 infections were reported along with 43,000 new deaths. According to that data, the number of deaths related to the coronavirus globally has decreased continually over the last three weeks, The Associated Press reported.

The Western Pacific and Africa reportedly saw the largest increase in COVID-19 infections, reporting a 29 percent increase and a 12 percent increase in infections, respectively, the news outlet noted.

In the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas, the number of coronavirus cases fell by 20 percent. Case numbers increased in Europe by nearly 2 percent, according to The AP.

WHO, however, reportedly noted that the recent data “should be interpreted with caution,” citing that several countries have altered their COVID-19 testing strategies and have begun testing less frequently — a move it said could cause new cases to be undetected.

Sweden and other countries including the U.K. have announced in recent weeks that they will no longer carry out widespread testing, the AP reported.

In another part of the world, China has restricted people from leaving its northeastern province where the “stealth omicron” variant is creating the country’s largest outbreak since the start of the pandemic, AP noted.