New covid sub-variant BA 2.75 detected in India: WHO

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday COVID-19 cases globally had increased nearly 30% over the past two weeks.

Speaking in Geneva, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that "four out of six of the WHO sub-regions saw cases increase in the last week."

He said that in "Europe and America BA.4 and BA.5" were driving a surge in cases, while a "new sub lineage of BA.2.75 has also been detected" in India.

Tedros also said the organization was "concerned" by the "scale and spread" of monkeypox, saying that there had been "6,000 cases recorded in 58 countries."

He called testing "a challenge" and warned that "it's highly probable that there are a significant number of cases not being picked up."

According to Tedros, Europe is the current epicentre of the outbreak, recording more than 80% of cases globally.

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In Africa, cases are appearing in countries not previously affected and record numbers are being reported in places which have had previous experience with monkeypox before the ongoing outbreak, Tedros said.