COVID-19 third wave to hit India soon? US, UK, Russia witness record surge in cases

New Delhi: Even as the COVID-19 situation in India seems to be under control and the daily number of new infections is on a declining trend, the threat of third wave hitting the country soon looms large amid a record surge in coronavirus cases in several countries across the globe.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the global number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 is now increasing for the first time in two months. In a media briefing on COVID-19 on October 28, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it's another reminder that the 'COVID-19 pandemic is far from over'.

The WHO Chief said that unless the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled everywhere, the virus will mutate and continue to circulate everywhere.

"All countries, including high-income countries, are at continued high risk of being exposed to new variants – infecting those who are fully vaccinated, risking the effectiveness of the tools we have, and risking the re-introduction of more stringent public health measures," he added.

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Globally, the number of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths have increased slightly during the past few weeks, with nearly 3 million infections and over 49,000 new fatalities, a 4% and 5% increase respectively. 

WHO's situation report on October 26 stated that the European and South-East Asia regions reported an increase in new weekly COVID-19 deaths, 14% and 13% respectively, as compared with the previous week. 

In the US, there were more than 80,000 confirmed new infections and 1,681 fatalities in the last 24 hours, while in the UK, as many as 41,278 people tested positive for COVID-19 and 166 died of the virus on Saturday. In Russia, there were over 39,000 daily fresh infections and 1,163 related deaths. 

Ukraine (26,870), Turkey (25,528), Germany (24,668) and Brazil (17,184) have also been severely hit by the new wave of coronavirus.

Health officials in China also said that the latest COVID-19 outbreak is developing rapidly. Around 377 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms were reported between October 17 and October 29. 

In India, however, the trend of less than 50,000 daily new cases continued for the 126th consecutive day on Sunday, but the fear of the third wave still remains among people.

(With agency and WHO inputs)

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