WHO: December COVID deaths near 10K

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), told reporters this week that COVID hospitalizations increased by 42 percent in almost 50 countries in December.

Most of these countries are in Europe and the Americas. Tedros attributed these trends to holiday travel and the colder weather, both common drivers of respiratory virus spread during this time of year.

“Although 10,000 deaths a month is far less than the peak of the pandemic, this level of preventable deaths is not acceptable,” said Tedros.

The U.S has recorded more than 1,000 weekly deaths due to COVID-19 since September, still significantly lower than last year’s respiratory viral season. Early data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests weekly deaths may be dropping, though this figure is subject to change.

Other respiratory viruses have similarly been on the rise in recent months, with both the flu and RSV seeing elevated case rates in the U.S. WHO technical lead for COVID Maria Van Kerkhove noted diseases like rhinovirus and pneumonia have also been increasing and said she expects these trends to continue into January.

The JN.1 subvariant currently dominant in the U.S. is believed to be more infectious than previous strains, though it does not appear to cause more severe symptoms.