The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that there had been at least 775 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally since the pandemic began in 2019.
The United Nations health agency disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
It added that more than seven million deaths had been reported worldwide in the last four years.
The first official cases of COVID-19 were recorded on December 31, 2019, when the WHO was informed of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China.
The statement read: “Globally, during the 28-day period (24 June to 21 July), the number of new cases and deaths increased by 30 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
“Compared to the previous 28-day period (27 May to 23 June), with more than 186,000 new cases reported across 96 (41percent) countries and over 2,800 new fatalities reported across 35 (15 percent) countries.
“As of 21 July 2024, more than 775 million confirmed cases and more than seven million deaths have been reported globally since the start of the pandemic.
“During the same period, 46 and 35 countries provided data at least once on COVID-19 hospitalisations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU), respectively.
“From the available data, more than 23,000 new hospitalisations and more than 600 new ICU admissions were reported.
“Among the countries reporting these data consistently over the current and past reporting period, there was an overall increase of 11 percent and 3 percent in new hospitalisations and new ICU admissions, respectively.
“Globally, 9.8 million individuals received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine across 73 reporting Member States (MS), covering 22 percent of the global population.
“Among older adults, 4.9 million individuals received a dose across the 60 MS reporting on uptake in the group, corresponding to an uptake rate of 0.42 percent so far in 2024.”