WHO says COVID-19 deaths up 21 percent globally in last week

COVID-19 deaths have increased by 21 percent globally in the last week, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The majority of the 69,000 deaths were recorded in the Americas and Southeast Asia, according to The Associated Press.

The WHO also reported that the number of COVID-19 cases grew by 8 percent worldwide, bringing the total number of infections to nearly 194 million, according to the AP.

More than 4.17 million deaths have been reported across the globe, according to the WHO.

The United National health agency said the number of total global cases reported could rise above 200 million in the next two weeks “if these trends continue,” according to the news wire.

The organization also reported that the number of COVID-19 deaths rose in all regions of the world except for Europe.

The highest number of reported infections was reportedly seen in the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and India.

The surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths comes as the highly infectious delta strand continues to spread across the globe.

Vaccination rates are also plateauing in some regions, including in the U.S. The country is struggling with increasing its inoculation rate as a minority of the population remains opposed to receiving the shots.

A large percentage of the new cases and deaths reported in the U.S. are from areas that have low vaccination rates.

Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Sunday that COVID-19 is now an “outbreak among the unvaccinated.”