The highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 is expected to become the dominant strain of the virus over the coming months, the World Health Organization said. CoronavirusPandemic DeltaVariant Covid19
Those included Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Britain, China, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Israel, Portugal, Russia, Singapore and South Africa.
"Growing evidence supports the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant as compared to non-VOCs. However, the exact mechanism for the increase in transmissibility remains unclear," said the WHO.The Geneva-based organisation said overall, 3.4 million new Covid-19 cases were reported in the week to July 18 - up 12 percent on the week before.
"At this rate, it is expected that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next three weeks," said the WHO. The organisation said the global increases in transmission appeared to be driven by four factors: more transmissible variants; the relaxation of public health measures; increased social mixing and large numbers of unvaccinated people.
Cases were up 30 percent in the WHO's Western Pacific region and up 21 percent in its European region.The number of weekly deaths, however, remained steady at 57 000, similar to the previous week and following a steady decline for more than two months.
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