Worldwide COVID cases surpass 250 million, eastern Europe sees spike: Report

COVID-19 cases
across the world surged past the 250-million-mark Monday as a spike in cases in
eastern Europe drove infection numbers. The rise in cases has occurred even as
the Delta variant has been on the wane. The last few months have seen many
countries open up for trade and tourism as vaccination efforts gathered pace.

However, the fact
that begs caution is that even though the daily average number of cases has
dropped by 36% across the world, the virus continues to infect 50 million
people every 90 days. In contrast, the first 50 million COVID-19 cases took
nearly a year. This, according to a Reuters report, is due to the
highly-transmissible Delta variant.    

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As cases continue
to rise, albeit slowly, health experts remain optimistic that the worst of the
pandemic is over. “We think between now and the end of 2022, this is the point
where can get control over this virus…where we can significantly reduce disease
and death,” Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist with the World Health
Organization (WHO) told Reuters.

The part of the
world seeing an untrammeled rise in infection numbers is eastern Europe,
primarily because of low vaccination rates in the region. More than 50% of all
new infections reported across the world are from countries in Europe and the region
is reporting a million infections every four days.

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Several parts of
Russia have imposed strict curbs over the last few weeks as the country sees
record number of deaths in COVID-19 cases. There is a workplace shutdown in place
in Russia which is likely to be extended.

Vaccination
efforts, though stronger than a few months ago, need significant improvement
still. Nearly half of the world’s population is yet to receive even one dose of
the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines in the market. World leaders and heads of health
agencies have consistently pointed to the need for greater vaccine equity if
the virus is to be defeated.