The number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19 per cent

in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organization.

The UN health agency said late Tuesday in its weekly report on the pandemic that just over 16 million new COVID-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported worldwide last week.

The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19 per cent, while Southeast Asia reported a decrease of about 37 per cent, the biggest drop globally.

The largest overall number of new COVID-19 cases was seen in Russia, according to the latest update, which covers the period of Feb. 7 to 13. Cases there and elsewhere in eastern Europe doubled in recent weeks, driven by a surge of the hugely infectious Omicron variant.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported in:

Russia, with more than 1.3 million new cases, a 23 per cent increase from a week earlier.

Germany, with more than 1.3 million new cases, similar to the previous week.

United States, with more than 1.2 million new cases, down by 43 per cent from a week earlier.

Reported case numbers are believed to be a vast undercount in many nations, as access to testing is limited.

WHO said that all other coronavirus variants, including Alpha, Beta and Delta, continue to decline globally as Omicron crowds them out. Among the more than 400,000 COVID-19 virus sequences uploaded to the world's biggest virus database in the last week, more than 98 per cent were Omicron.

WHO said the BA.2 version of Omicron appears to be "steadily increasing" and its prevalence has risen in South Africa, Denmark, the U.K. and other countries.

Early evidence that boosters seem to hold up against Omicron subvariant BA.2

Health officials have noted, however, that Omicron causes less severe disease than previous COVID-19 variants and in countries with high vaccination rates, hospitalization and death rates have not increased substantially, even with Omicron's spread.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the emergencies program at the WHO, said Wednesday that testing has fallen off "remarkably" in many countries, which will impact the data about cases worldwide.

Ryan, who was speaking alongside WHO COVID-19 technical lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, took questions about everything from testing and restrictions to what's happening with Omicron and its subvariants.

"Right now, we're in a period of great uncertainty," Ryan said, adding that the pandemic is "by no means over."

"Countries are having to make decisions — to try and normalize and bring society and economies back online — and there's a tremendous political and social pressure to do that," he said.

Ryan said he understands the drive to reopen — but he urged caution, pointing to the ongoing Omicron surge in many regions of the world. The WHO official said countries looking to ease public health restrictions should embrace a measured, step-by-step approach that recognizes the uncertainty of this stage of the pandemic.

A passenger sits inside a tricycle covered with a reminder to wear a mask, part of the Covid-19 health protocols in Manila on Wednesday. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)

Ryan added that one measure that should not be lifted is the need to isolate after a positive PCR or rapid antigen test. Van Kerkhove echoed the call to keep isolation protocols, saying moving away from isolation for positive cases is a "dangerous" move.

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