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Overview: WHO sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta spreads to 100 countries

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Fri, 2021-07-09 14:14 — mike kraft
Coronavirus world updates: WHO sounds alarm as global deaths top 4 million, delta spreads to 100 countries WHO chief warned that more contagious variants are “currently winning the race against vaccines” with much of the world’s population unvaccinated. Erin Cunningham Washington Post

World Health Organization officials issued stern warnings to nations planning to relax coronavirus restrictions as global deaths from the virus topped 4 million and the more virulent delta variant was spotted in more than 100 countries, including those with high vaccination rates.

Speaking at a briefing Wednesday, the officials cautioned that more contagious variants were “currently winning the race against vaccines,” as most of the world’s population has yet to be immunized.

Even the delta variant, which was first identified in India and is now tearing through unvaccinated populations around the world, “is itself mutating and will continue to do so,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead at the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program.

“There are more than two dozen countries that have epidemic curves that are almost vertical right now,” she said. “We’re not in a good place.”

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Here are some significant developments:

  • Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo that will run throughout the Olympic Games, to combat rising infections in the capital and the spread of the contagious delta variant.
  • Health authorities in Australia’s New South Wales on Thursday reported the state’s largest daily increase in local coronavirus cases this year. The delta variant has driven a surge of cases in the state capital, Sydney, which remains shut down until July 16.
  • The delta variant is now dominant in the United States, according to new estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the two weeks ending July 3, more than 51 percent of new cases were linked to the variant, the agency said.
  • England’s coronavirus infections have quadrupled since early June, according to a new study by Imperial College London, as the delta variant gains ground among mostly unvaccinated populations. Despite the surge, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to lift nearly all coronavirus-related restrictions later this month.
  • ALSO SEE: Reuters Overview

At the same time, “some countries with high vaccination coverage are … relaxing as though the pandemic is already over,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic … far too many countries in every region in the world are seeing sharp spikes in cases and hospitalization.”

His remarks came as several nations, particularly in Europe, were set to fully reopen or had already lifted some virus curbs, even as the delta variant was gaining ground. ...

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