The WHO says the global number of coronavirus cases and deaths is plateauing, with declines in most regions including the two worst-affected regions: the Americas and Europe.

“But it’s an unacceptably high plateau, with more than 5.4 million reported COVID-19 cases and almost 90,000 deaths last week,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing.

On Monday, the agency also said the B.1.617 variant first identified in India last year was being classified as a variant of global concern.

“We classify it as a variant of concern at a global level,” Dr Maria Van Kerkhove (PhD), WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told the briefing.