Globally, new COVID-19 cases increased again with nearly 5.7 million new cases reported last week, surpassing previous peaks, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) weekly COVID-19 update on April 25.

The number of new deaths increased for the sixth consecutive week, with over 87,000 new deaths reported.

For the third consecutive week, the South-East Asia region reported the highest relative increases in both case and death incidences.

While, a number of countries in the region are reporting upward trends, India accounts for the vast majority of cases from this regional trend and 38%of global cases reported in the past week. 

However, apart from the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions this week, all other regions are reporting decreases in case incidence .

Similarly, all but two regions, South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean, reported declines in new deaths this week.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from

• India (2 172 063 new cases; 52% increase),
• the United States of America (406 001 new cases; 15% decrease),
• Brazil (404 623 new cases; 12% decrease),
• Turkey (378 771 new cases; 9% decrease), and
• France (211 674 new cases; 9% decrease).

Meanwhile in the WHO Western Pacific region 24 member states have reported cases since the pandemic began, while 11 areas, including Tonga, remain covid-free