WHO Says Weekly COVID Deaths Jumped More Than 40% While New Infections Fell

The number of people who died from the coronavirus worldwide rose by more than 40% last week, according to a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization. The agency said the increase was probably driven by changes in how COVID-19 deaths are reported in the Americas, along with newly adjusted figures from India.

In its latest weekly update on the pandemic, the United Nations health agency said infections fell across the globe, including in the Western Pacific region, where cases had been climbing since December. Roughly 10 million new cases and more than 45,000 deaths were reported worldwide over the past week. The previous week had seen a 23% drop in deaths.

The WHO has repeatedly cautioned that reported case totals likely fall well short of the true spread of the virus. In recent weeks, it has urged governments not to abandon systematic testing and other surveillance measures, warning that doing so undermines efforts to track the virus accurately.

"The data are becoming increasingly less representative, less accurate and less robust," the WHO said. The agency added that this weakens the world's ability to determine where the virus is, how it is spreading and how it is evolving, information it described as still crucial to ending the acute phase of the pandemic effectively.

The organization also said scaled-back surveillance would particularly hamper the detection of new variants and would weaken any response to them.

Many countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere have recently lifted nearly all of their COVID-19 restrictions, relying instead on high vaccination rates to guard against another surge. That has continued even as infections rise, fueled by BA.2, a more contagious subvariant of omicron. British officials have said they expect cases to increase but have not seen a matching rise in hospitalizations and deaths.

Despite the worldwide decline in confirmed infections, China locked down Shanghai this week in an attempt to contain an omicron outbreak. The wave is the worst the country has experienced since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019.

In the United States, authorities on Tuesday expanded eligibility for booster shots. Americans aged 50 and older can now receive a second booster at least four months after their most recent vaccination.

Separately, a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center found that fewer than half of Americans regularly wear masks, avoid crowds and refrain from nonessential travel.