WHO: COVID-19 cases rise for the 5th week, deaths stable GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases reported worldwide rose for the fifth week in a row while the number of deaths remained relatively stable, the World Health Organization reported Thursday. AP NEWS

In the U.N. health agency’s weekly review of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO said there were 5.7 million new infections confirmed last week, marking a 6% increase. There were 9.800 deaths, roughly similar to the previous week’s figure.

Animal-to-human diseases on the rise in Africa, warns UN health agency Diseases transmitted from animals to people in Africa have jumped 63 per cent in last decade, compared with the previous ten year period, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis UN News

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“And more than 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases, are caused by pathogens shared with wild or domestic animals,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told journalists at a media briefing...

COVID-19 has become 'too clever for us' and can 'break past' our protection, WHO official says "Even though we don't like it we have to go on respecting this virus," David Nabarro told Sky News, urging people to stay up to date on vaccinations. YahooNews

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San Francisco at risk of an ‘uncontrolled monkeypox spread,’ lawmaker says California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said in a statement Thursday that the city of San Francisco is veering toward a public health crisis due to the uncontrolled spread of the monkeypox viru… ooshin The Hill

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UK Covid infections rise by almost 30% in a week Around 3.5 million people thought to have disease in first week of July the Guardian

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Booster: India starts giving free third Covid vaccine dose to adults A federal minister said the move was to mark the country's upcoming 75th anniversary of independence. BBC News

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What is monkeypox, and how can you stay safe while it spreads? As a global outbreak of monkeypox continues to grow, public health officials are stressing the importance of education in fighting the virus. Virginia Langmaid, CNN CNN

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Officials Lament Barriers to Monkeypox Treatments, Prevention Blame limited supplies and excessive red tape Michael DePeau-Wilson medpagetoday

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Masks need to be mandated in most indoor settings to prevent really grim winter - Baker Professor Michael Baker is calling for much wider mask mandates, saying the roll-out of free masks, while positive, will make a "fairly small" difference to the Covid-19 outbreak. RNZ

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PAHO: "Member countries had administered 1.6 billion COVID-19 vaccines" To date, more than 1.6 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in PAHO member countries. Caribbean News Editor Caribbean News Now!

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Speaking during PAHO’s digital COVID-19 media briefing, Dr Etienne said 17 member countries – including Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, have passed the target of vaccinating 70 per cent of their populations.

The BA.5 Wave Is What COVID Normal Looks Like The endless churn of variants may not stop anytime soon, unless we do something about it. Katherine J. Wu The Atlantic

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FDA authorizes Novavax Covid vaccine, in hopes the traditional shot will convince holdouts The agency hopes the availability of a more traditional vaccine might help convince those skeptical of the Covid shots using new mRNA technology to get inoculated. Matthew Herper STAT

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