WHO chief says coronaviruses are global health emergency

The World Health Organization chief said Monday that the coronaviruses are a global health emergency, as a key advisory panel found that the epidemic may be nearing an inflexion point where higher immunity levels can lower disease-related deaths, the Associated Press reported. The WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the annual executive board meeting that the world is in a better state now than a year ago when the omicron variant was at its peak. He warned that around the world, at least 170,000 people have died due to the coronaviruses in the last eight weeks. He called for at-risk groups to be fully vaccine, an increase in testing and early use of antivirals, an expansion of lab networks, and a fight against misinformation about the pandemic. According to a New York Times tracker, the seven-day average of new U.S. cases stood at 46,021 on Sunday. It's down 25% from two weeks ago. The average hospitalizations for hospitalizations was down 22% at 33,451. The average number of deaths was 521, down 8% from two weeks ago. The global death toll rose above 6.82 million on Monday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with 102.3 million cases and 1,107, 646 deaths.