COVID-19 cases, deaths continue global slide

COVID-19 cases and deaths are continuing to decline worldwide, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), The Associated Press reports.

Global cases of the virus went down 16 percent in the past week and deaths fell by 10 percent, according to the WHO’s data. The drop in COVID-19 deaths first began to be seen worldwide last week, and the WHO data shows that decline is continuing.

However: The WHO still reported there were approximately 10 million new cases of COVID-19 reported globally in the past week, as well as 60,000 deaths, the AP reports.

In the Western Pacific region, coronavirus cases and deaths increased, making it the only region in the world to see an upward trend in COVID-19, along with a 22 percent increase in deaths caused by the virus, the news outlet noted.

In addition to the global COVID-19 decline, the delta variant has almost entirely been taken over by the omicron variant, according to the WHO. Based on the sequenced viruses worldwide, 99.5 percent of COVID-19 cases have been the omicron variant, while only 0.3 percent of cases have been the delta variant, according to the AP.