The World Well being Group on Monday cheered the falling fee of worldwide coronavirus instances however warned governments and people to maintain their guard up as new variants unfold. "For the third week in a row, the variety of new instances of COVID-19 reported globally fell final week," WHO Director Normal Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned at a press convention. "There are nonetheless many international locations with rising numbers of instances, however on the world degree, that is encouraging information."Nonetheless, the world has been on this place earlier than and squandered it, he added. "Over the previous 12 months, there have been moments in virtually all international locations when instances declined, and governments opened up too shortly and people let down their guard just for the virus to return roaring again," Tedros mentioned. New variants of the coronavirus – notably one first documented in South Africa – have raised considerations about elevated transmission and decreased vaccine efficacy. However Tedros mentioned that the worldwide pattern in instances exhibits the virus may be managed "even with the brand new variants in circulation."[MAP: The Spread of Coronavirus]Greater than 100 million instances of the virus have been reported internationally, in keeping with knowledge from Johns Hopkins College. Over 2.2 million individuals have died from the virus.Infections are down within the U.S., Spain, the U.Ok., Mexico and India. However new instances are rising in France, Brazil, Indonesia and Italy. A broadly cited coronavirus mannequin from the College of Washington's Institute for Well being Metrics and Analysis predicts that the world will add over one million extra deaths from the virus by the beginning of Might. And whereas vaccines nonetheless present safety in opposition to the variants, research have proven that the efficacy fee is diminished, prompting firms to check doable booster photographs.