The number of new weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths around the world has nearly doubled over the past two months, nearing the highest rate of infection since the start of the pandemic, said Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus (pictured) during a live media briefing on Friday.

Axar.az reports that Dr. Tedros stated that the WHO continued to assess the progression of the pandemic regularly at the global level and under the International Health Regulations. He added that he looks forward to new advice agreed on during the Emergency Committee's 7th meeting held on Thursday. "World, our message to all people in all countries remains the same: we all have a role to play in ending the pandemic," he concluded.

According to official statistics, the current number of COVID-19 cases around the world is 139,762,136, with 3,001,621 total deaths.