The director of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that the global increase in Covid-19 cases could be just the tip of the iceberg, as some countries also report a drop in detection rates.

New infections increased 8% worldwide last week, compared to the previous one.

WHO Director Tedros Adhanom told the press:

“It is to be expected that there will be increases, especially in areas where transmission prevention measures have been lifted ; however, mortality levels are unacceptably high in many countries.”

A combination of factors was causing the increases, including the highly transmissible omicron variant and the lifting of public health measures, said the WHO’s technical lead for the coronavirus pandemic, Maria Van Kerkhove.

Van Kerkhove expressed that it is understandable that the world needs to get out of Covid19, “but this virus spreads very effectively between people “.

In Brazil, the severe sanitary restrictions against COVID-19 have already been lifted in much of the territory, despite the fact that the first two cases of the new deltacron variant were recently detected .

A few days ago the health agency also released a scientific report revealing that loneliness, fear of infection, suffering, financial worries, and death caused a 25% increase in anxiety and depression in the world during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Young people are among the most affected groups, especially those between the ages of 20 and 24, who are at disproportionate risk of suicidal and self-injurious behavior.

In addition, women have been more affected than men and people with pre-existing physical health conditions, such as asthma, cancer and heart disease, were more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders.