GENEVA: The level of risk related to the Omicron variant is very high, the WHO said late Tuesday, with the number of new COVID-19 cases reaching another record high last week.
"More than 21 million new cases were reported, representing the highest number of weekly cases recorded since the start of the pandemic," the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological coronavirus update.
The United Nations health agency said the number of new infections rose 5% in the week to Sunday - compared to a 20% increase recorded a week earlier.
"Globally, there was a slow increase in the incidence of the case," the WHO said.
It said there were also around 50,000 new deaths - the same figure as a week ago.
The report noted that Omicron continues to increase its dominance globally over other forms of anxiety.
"The current global epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 is characterized by the dominance of Omicron variants on a global scale, a continued decline in the prevalence of delta variants, and very low-level circulation of alpha, beta and gamma variants." WHO said.
“Countries that have experienced a rapid increase in omicron cases or a decline in cases in November and December 2021.
However, "based on currently available evidence, the overall risk associated with the Omicron variant is very high".
WHO said samples collected in the last 30 days sequenced and uploaded to the GISAID global science initiative, Omicron accounted for 89.1%
Delta - formerly the world's premier version - now makes up 10.7%.