New COVID-19 Cases, Deaths Decline Worldwide

The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported globally have continued to decline nearly everywhere in the world.

This is as the World Health Organization described it as a "welcome decline" at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The U.N. health agency said there were 4.5 million new COVID-19 cases reported last week, a 16% drop from the previous week.

Deaths were also down by 13%, with about 13,500 fatalities.

WHO said COVID-19 infections dropped everywhere in the world while deaths decreased everywhere except for Asia, where they climbed by 15% and in the Western Pacific, where they rose by 3%.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that with the possible emergence of more dangerous new COVID-19 variant, the world should expect to see a spike in hospitalizations and deaths.

Tedros also said vaccination rates were still too low, noting that 30% of health workers and 20% of older people remain unimmunized.

"These vaccination gaps pose a risk to all of us.

"Please get vaccinated if you are not and a booster if it's recommended that you have one."