WHO: Europe is the only region to have seen a rise in COVID-19 over the past week

According to the World Health Organization, there was an increase of 7% in coronavirus cases in Europe last week. This is the only area in the world where the number of cases has increased. The organization also stated that uneven vaccine coverage was a threat.

The U.N.’s weekly assessment of pandemics revealed that there were approximately 2.7 million new cases of COVID-19 and over 46,000 deaths worldwide last week. This is similar to the previous week.

WHO stated that the Americas and Europe had the highest COVID-19 rates. The U.S. had the highest number of cases globally, with more than 580,000. This still represents a 11% decrease.

The most European cases were in Britain, Russia, and Turkey.

The Western Pacific and Africa saw the largest drop in COVID-19 infections. Infections fell by approximately 18% and 16% respectively. Despite the severe shortage of vaccines, the number of African deaths declined by 25%.

Coronavirus cases in Europe have increased for the third week running, with approximately 1.3 million cases. WHO reported that more than half of the countries in the region experienced an increase in COVID-19 numbers. Each country, Russia and Britain, reported a 15% increase in the number of new cases.

WHO Europe Office released Wednesday a statement stating that 1 billion coronavirus vaccines had been distributed across Europe. It also described uneven vaccine coverage as “the biggest enemy of COVID-19 in the region.”

Over the last week, Russia has broken multiple daily records for COVID-19 case numbers and infections in the U.K. have risen to levels not seen since mid July.

Russian President Vladimir Putin backed Wednesday’s Cabinet proposal to keep Russian workers at home for a week to stop the spread of the virus.

Russian officials have had difficulty in vaccinating the population. However, due to vaccine skepticism only 32% of people have been vaccinated despite having access to the Sputnik V vaccine. With more than 225,000 deaths, it has the highest number of virus-related deaths in Europe.

The head of Britain’s National Health Service urged the government not to implement stricter COVID-19 protocols, including mask-wearing and faster vaccinations of children. However, politicians have not responded.