China, the first epicentre of the pandemic, reported its first COVID-19 deaths since January 2021 as the highly contagious omicron variant continued to spread across the country. In a statement, the National Health Commission said that the two deaths were both reported in Jilin on Friday.

The global deaths related to COVID-19 plunged by a fifth despite the continued resurgence of the pandemic this week.

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According to an AFP tally, the average number of daily infections globally increased by 12% over the week to 1.8 million as Western counties see a rebound. 

In France, the COVID-19 cases increased by 35% this week, while Italy and Britain were up 42% each.

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On Friday, citing a rise in COVID cases, a World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson said that the end of the pandemic was a long way off.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that WHO was discussing how and when to call an end to the global COVID-19 crisis, the UN health agency said that the pandemic was “far from over”.

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“We are definitely in the middle of the pandemic,” the spokesperson added.

The UK health security agency on Friday said that the daily infection could be growing each day as the estimated range of England’s COVID-19 reproduction “R” number is between 1.1 and 1.4. 

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This marks a rise in R number as the previous week’s range was 0.8 to 1.1. An R number between 1.1 and 1.4 means 10 people infected with Covid will, on average, infect 11 to 14 other people.

As Canada began to lift COVID-19 restrictions, the chief public health officer called for more people to get booster shots.

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Theresa Tam told a press briefing that Canada’s Covid policies may soon shift from “an emphasis on requirements to recommendations”, making it critically important for more people, especially the elderly, to get a booster dose.