China reported its first Covid-19 deaths since January 2021 as the highly contagious omicron variant continued to spread across the country, the first epicentre of the pandemic. The two deaths were both reported in Jilin on Friday, according to the National Health Commission said in a statement.
The global deaths related to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) plunged by a fifth despite the continued resurgence of the pandemic this week. The average number of daily infections globally increased by 12% over the week to 1.8 million as Western counties see a rebound, according to an AFP tally. Covid cases in France increased by 35% this week, while Italy and Britain were up 42% each.Citing a rise in Covid cases, a World Health Organization spokesperson on Friday said that the end of the pandemic was a long way off. Days after Bloomberg reported that WHO was discussing how and when to call an end to the global Covid-19 crisis, the UN health agency said that the pandemic was “far from over”.
