COVID-19 live updates: Weekly global number of cases fell by 19%, WHO says

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 925,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 64.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:

Feb 16, 7:37 am
WHO: Weekly global number of COVID-19 cases fell by 19%

The global number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases fell by 19% during the week ending on Feb. 13, compared to the previous week, according to a weekly epidemiological update released Tuesday by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, the number of newly recorded deaths from the disease that week remained similar to that of the previous week. Just over 16 million new cases and just under 75,000 new fatalities were reported worldwide during the week of Feb. 7 to Feb. 13, the WHO said.

All WHO regions reported decreases in the number of weekly cases except for the Western Pacific region, which reported an increase of 19%. The number of new weekly deaths increased in the Eastern Mediterranean region, the Western Pacific region, the African region and the region of the Americas, while it remained similar to that of the previous week in the European region and decreased in the Southeast Asia region, according to the WHO.

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