COVID-19 infections are reaching their highest rates since the onset of the pandemic, warned the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising at worrying rates across the globe. The number of fresh COVID-19 cases per week has almost doubled over the past two months worldwide, he stated, adding that this is approaching the highest rate of infection seen thus far during the pandemic. As of Friday, globally there were 138.5 million cases, and over 2.9 million deaths. Regarding the virus variants, the WHO mentioned that monitoring of the COVID-19 virus variant first detected in India was being done. The B.1.617 variant, carrying two mutations, emerged at the end of 2020 and cases have been reported in other countries in Asia and North America… (UN, April 16, 2021)