What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

The Americas reported more than 616,000 new cases last week, while the death toll was down by less than 1% in the same comparison to 4,200, the organization said. Beijing returns to work after subdued Labour Day break Beijing returned to work on Thursday after a five-day Labour Day holiday devoid of the usual trips across the country or lavish family dinners, as China's capital tried to eradicate a COVID outbreak of dozens of new cases a day. The long break is usually one of the most lucrative times of the year for restaurants, hotels and other businesses in China.

Here's what you need to know about the pandemic right now: Almost three times as many died as a result of COVID than officially reported

Almost three times as many people have died as a result of COVID-19 as the official data show, according to a new World Health Organization report, the most comprehensive look at the true global toll of the pandemic so far. There were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 by the end of 2021, the U.N. body said on Thursday. The official count of deaths directly attributable to COVID-19 and reported to WHO in that period, from January 2020 to the end of December 2021, is slightly more than 5.4 million.

Omicron as severe as previous variants, large study finds The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus is intrinsically as severe as previous variants, unlike assumptions made in previous studies that it was more transmissible but less severe, a large study in the United States has found.

"We found that the risks of hospitalization and mortality were nearly identical between periods," said four scientists who conducted the study based on records of 130,000 COVID-19 patients, referring to times in the past two years when different variants were dominant across the world. Americas cases up

COVID-19 cases in the Americas increased by 12.7% last week from the prior week, the Pan American Health Organization said on Wednesday, as infections continued to rise in Central and North America. The Americas reported more than 616,000 new cases last week, while the death toll was down by less than 1% in the same comparison to 4,200, the organization said.

Beijing returns to work after subdued Labour Day break Beijing returned to work on Thursday after a five-day Labour Day holiday devoid of the usual trips across the country or lavish family dinners, as China's capital tried to eradicate a COVID outbreak of dozens of new cases a day.

The long break is usually one of the most lucrative times of the year for restaurants, hotels, and other businesses in China. This year, travelers spent 43% less than in 2021, data showed on Thursday. It was the latest sign of the pain caused by various degrees of COVID curbs imposed on dozens of major population centers across the country, including the strict city-wide lockdown the commercial hub of Shanghai has endured for more than a month.

Africa CDC urges vaccine buyers to order from South Africa's Aspen Africa's top public health body and urged all those purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for the continent to place orders with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare, saying the market was key to developing vaccine manufacturing on the continent.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said it was doing everything it could behind the scenes to prevent a situation where Aspen closes its facility due to a lack of orders. Novavax files for authorization of COVID shot among adolescents in Britain

Novavax said on Wednesday it had filed an application with Britain's drugs regulator for the authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine among adolescents aged 12 and older. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)