The World Health Organization said this week that the virus is increasing in at least 84 countries despite perceptions that the pathogen is a remnant of the past. The rise in global cases comes during pandemic fatigue and a decline in testing for the virus and reporting of cases. Those bans include exceptions for medical mask-wearing, but critics worry people trying to avoid covid could still be harassed. “We don’t have any data that suggests that the variants that are circulating now cause more severe disease,” Pekosz said. The absence of comprehensive data on total coronavirus cases hinders the assessment of variant severity, because researchers cannot determine the proportion of cases that lead to hospitalizations or deaths.

Source: Washington Post August 08, 2024 12:57 UTC