BRUSSELS, March 16 — The head of the World Health Organisation said tosday that a global rise in Covid-19 cases could be the tip of the iceberg as some countries also report a drop in testing rates.

New infections jumped by 8 per cent globally last week, compared to the previous week.

"Surges are to be expected particularly in areas where measures to prevent transmission have been lifted. However, there are unacceptably high levels of mortality in many countries,” WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

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

"We completely understand that the world needs to move on from Covid-19, wants to move on from Covid-19, but this virus spreads very efficiently between people.” — Reuters