WHO Gives COVID-19 Updates On Emerging Infections, Deaths

Although deaths are decreasing, COVID-19 infections are on the rise worldwide, the World Health Organization said.

Over 12 million emerging cases were reported Tuesday by the United Nations agency, according to The Associated Press. Around 33,000 deaths were reported, which is an overall decrease of 23%.

“These increases are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The cases we're seeing are just the tip of the iceberg."

The WHO also stated Tuesday that COVID is on the rise in 18 European countries, likely due to the notoriously infectious Omicron subvariant known as BA.2.

“The countries where we see a particular increase are the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy and Germany,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said in a press conference. “Those countries are lifting the restrictions brutally from too much to too few.”

WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said earlier this month that “we are definitely in the middle of the pandemic," and that the pandemic is "far from over."