International Desk: Dhaka, Jul-30,

Global Covid-19 cases are on the rise, with 3.8 million new infections confirmed in the week between July 19 and July 25, and a "sharp" rise has been reported in the number of fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

For the past week, the global cases rose by 8% compared to the previous week, which was largely attributed to substantial increases in the Americas and the Western Pacific Regions, the UN health agency said in its weekly update report.

With over 69,000, the number of Covid-19 deaths reported during the period increased by 21% week-on-week.

Most of the new deaths were reported from the Americas and South-East Asia Regions, said the report.

While previous months saw decreasing Covid-19 cases worldwide, the trend has changed this month and last week saw a 12% increase in the number of cases, while deaths and spread of variants are also on the rise, the WHO said on July 21.

The UN health agency also reported that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, the global number of Covid-19 cases could reach 200 million soon.

Variants are continuing their progression, as the Alpha variant was seen in 180 countries, territories or areas, and 13 new countries, territories or areas reported cases of the Delta variant.

While the Alpha variant is still detected more often than its counterpart, the Delta variant is believed by the WHO to be 50% more transmissible and might become the dominant form of the virus in the next few months.

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