Covid making worrying comeback amid summer surge and Olympics infections, WHO official warns

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Covid-19 is on the up as a summer surge hits 40 Olympic athletes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

A top official said the number of people testing positive for Covid across 84 countries has been rising, with the virus circulating at unusual levels for the summer months.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, technical consultant for the WHO, told journalists in Geneva on Monday: “Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the per cent of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 has been rising over several weeks.

“Overall, test positivity is above 10 per cent, but this fluctuates per region. In Europe, per cent positivity is above 20 per cent.”

New waves of infection have been registered in the Americas, Europe and the western Pacific.

“In recent months, regardless of the season, many countries have experienced surges of Covid-19, including at the Olympics where at least 40 athletes have tested positive,” Dr Van Kerkhove said.

The WHO’s warning comes amid a summer surge of Covid in the USA, while rates of people testing positive for Covid in the UK were up by 8 per cent in the week of 24 July.

US-based expert and physician Eric Topol warned of a new variant set to become dominant in the US, KP.3.1.1.

He said on the social media platform X: “Buckle up; this wave isn’t over yet.”

The WHO has urged eligible people to take up their vaccines.

“I am concerned...With such low coverage and with such large circulation, if we were to have a variant that would be more severe, then the susceptibility of the at-risk populations to develop severe disease is huge,” Dr Van Kerkhove said.

Last week the UK government’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations said those eligible for autumn jabs will include adults aged 65 years and over, residents in a care home for older adults and individuals aged six months to 64 years in clinical risk groups.