Southeast Asia sees 481 per cent surge in COVID-19 incidence in month - WHO

MOSCOW: The number of coronavirus infections increased by nearly 481 per cent in Southeast Asia and 144 per cent in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in a month but the global incidence and COVID-19-related fatalities are declining, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a monthly report on Thursday, reported Sputnik.

"At the regional level, the number of newly reported 28-day cases decreased across four of the six WHO regions: the African Region (-45 per cent), the Western Pacific Region (-39 per cent), the Region of the Americas (-33 per cent), and the European Region (-22 per cent); while case numbers increased in two WHO regions: the South-East Asia Region (+481 per cent)and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+144 per cent)," the report said.

The highest rise in incidence was reported in Nepal, a 1,198 per cent increase from 49 to 636 new cases, in India, a 937 per cent increase from 6,374 to 66,124 new cases, and in the Maldives, a 614 per cent increase from 21 to 150 cases, the WHO said.

According to the report, in the last 28 days, from March 13 to April 9, 3 million new infections and over 23,000 deaths were reported, a decrease of 28 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous month.

The WHO specified that the number of COVID-19-related fatalities increased by 109 per cent in Southeast Asia and 138 per cent in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in the reported period.

As of April 9, more than 762 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.8 million COVID-19-related fatalities have been recorded worldwide, the organisation said.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA