COVID-19 deaths, cases rise again globally amid relaxed curbs

COVID-19 deaths and cases are on the rise again. The World Health Organization reported that deaths climbed last week after nine straight weeks of decline. It recorded more than 55,000 lives lost, which is a 3 per cent increase from the week before.

Dr David Dowdy, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, warned, "Its important that we recognize that COVID-19 has the potential for explosive outbreaks".

As cases continue to surge, Argentina on Wednesday, July 14, reached a milestone in its fight to control the pandemic as deaths caused by COVID-19 crossed 100,000. As per the data published by the Health Ministry, 19,697 new cases and 614 more deaths were recorded taking the total number of deaths to 100,250.

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Also, residents across Myanmar's biggest city are defying a military curfew in a desperate search for oxygen to keep their loved ones breathing as a new coronavirus wave crashes over the coup-wracked country.

The spike in cases is the latest blow to Myanmar, already suffering from a February coup and a bloody crackdown on dissent that has killed over 900 people and gutted the economy.

In the US, newly confirmed infections per day have doubled over the past two weeks to an average of about 24,000, though deaths are still on a downward trajectory at around 260 a day.

Tokyo is under the fourth state of emergency ahead of the Summer Games this month, with infections climbing fast and hospital beds filling up.

Meanwhile, the WHO labelled the Delta variant of COVID-19 as a "variant of concern", the organisation’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had warned about the alarming increase of the ‘highly transmissible' variant.

Tedros warned that the Delta variant has now spread to 104 countries and will soon become the dominant variant of COVID-19 in the world. This will result in a deadly increase in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths.

"My message today is that we are experiencing a worsening public health emergency that further threatens lives, livelihoods and a sound global economic recovery. It is definitely worse in places that have very few vaccines, but the pandemic is not over anywhere," he said in a press briefing.