The number of new Covid-19 cases increased by 71% globally during the week of December 27-January 2 compared to the previous week, while the number of new deaths decreased by 10%, according to the WHO on Thursday, with the new Omicron variant leading the surge. According to the Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published by the World Health Organization, the global number of new cases increased sharply by 71 percent from December 27 to January 2, following a gradual increase since October.The number of new deaths has decreased by 10%. This equates to just under 9.5 million new cases and over 41,000 new deaths reported in the previous week. According to the World Health Organization's latest update, nearly 289 million cases and over 5.4 million deaths had been reported globally as of January 2. It stated that all regions reported an increase in the frequency of weekly cases, with the Americas Region reporting the greatest increase (100%), followed by South-East Asia (78%), Europe (65%), the Eastern Mediterranean (40%), the Western Pacific (38%), and Africa (7%).