Covid numbers dropping worldwide, apart from Europe - WHO

The WHO's Dr Mike Ryan. File Picture

Covid-19 cases are declining all over the world except in Europe this week, according to the World Health Organisation.

The WHO’s weekly global report also highlights a new Irish study on the impact of the Alpha or B.117 variant of the virus on new-born babies. The study found no increase in premature births or neonatal intensive care unit admissions between March 2020 and March this year.

The WHO stated the cumulative number of confirmed Covid cases globally is now over 240 million and the cumulative number of deaths is over 4.8 million.

The report shows a third consecutive week of increasing cases in Europe with a 7% increase to yesterday. This contrasts with an 18% decrease in the African region and a 18% drop in the Western Pacific region.

However despite these improvements this week, over 2.7 million new cases were reported globally and a further 46,000 people have died, the WHO said.

The number of deaths was stabilising with small decreases in the mortality rates around the world, again except in Europe which showed a weekly increase of 4%.

In general, the Delta variant remains the dominant variant around the world, although the WHO said in some South American countries the Mu and Gamma variants account for “a large proportion of sequences samples”.

The report also summarises the findings of four international studies on vaccine effectiveness.

An Israeli study evaluated the effects of a Pfizer booster shot. The WHO noted that for people over 60, this study found: “the rate of death was lower in the group who received a booster dose by a factor of 14.7 (9.4-23.1) compared to the group who did not receive a booster dose.” 

A Canadian study looked at the effectiveness of three double-jab vaccines against variants including Delta. They found vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca were “highly effective at preventing both symptomatic disease as well as hospitalisation or death 14 or more days post final vaccination (two doses).

The Irish study highlighted by the WHO was led by Dr Claire A Murphy at the Department of Neonatology in the Rotunda Hospital.

The study, which did not look at the Delta variant, found: “no increase in the incidence of pre-term birth or neonatal intensive care unit admission when compared with five-year, pre-pandemic hospital data.” It also found that whether or not a pregnant woman had the Alpha variant of Covid while pregnant, and whether she was symptomatic or not did not influence neonatal outcomes.

The WHO said: “While this is a reassuring initial finding, further studies to evaluate the impact of  variant of concern infections during pregnancy, particularly the Delta variant, are required.” The study, titled “The Effect of Covid-19 Infection During Pregnancy; Evaluating Neonatal Outcomes and the Impact of the B.1.1.7. Variant” is to be published in the Paediatric Infectious Disease Journal this month. It is available online now.

The study concludes: “Further studies to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 in early pregnancy, the variants of concern, particularly the emerging Delta variant and Covid-19 placentitis are required.”