The incidence of COVID-19 in the world is growing for the fourth week in a row, the Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing .
“In addition, after ten weeks of recession, mortality has also increased,” he added.
The head of WHO stressed that the world is now experiencing an exacerbation of the situation with coronavirus infection.
“This poses an even greater threat to human lives, <…> and the world economy,” said Gebreyesus.
He also admitted that the regions facing a shortage of vaccines cause the greatest concern among doctors.
As senior WHO researcher Sumiya Swaminathan noted at a briefing, among fully vaccinated people there are also cases of re-infection with the “delta” strain, but the disease is mild or without symptoms.
She stressed that vaccines do not protect 100 against infections, but significantly reduce the likelihood of developing a severe form of COVID-19 or dying from coronavirus infection.
Variant coronavirus B.1.617 was first identified in India in October 2020, and later three subspecies were discovered – B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 (delta) and B.1.617.3, differing in several mutations in the spike protein. According to preliminary data, this variety is highly infectious.
The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said that the delta accounted for about 66% of all strains identified in Russia since the beginning of summer.