A paramedic prepares doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for patients at a walk-in COVID-19 clinic in Sydney on August 4, 2021 (AFP)

A weekly epidemiological review was released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday demonstrating that the number of COVID-19 cases globally increased by 63% from July 24 to August 20.

The review said: "In the last 28-day period (24 July to 20 August 2023), nearly 1.5 million new COVID-19 cases and over 2000 deaths were reported from WHO’s six regions, an increase of 63% and a decrease of 48%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days".

This update comes a day after a survey conducted in the US by the Health Misinformation Tracking Poll showed that 30% of Americans believed that COVID-19 vaccines are "probably or definitely true" behind the death of thousands of healthy people.

A prominent official from the WHO stated that a recently identified COVID variant known as BA.2.86, characterized by its substantial mutations, has now surfaced in Switzerland and South Africa, in addition to previous reports of cases in occupied Palestine, Denmark, the US, and the UK.

Compared to the dominant XBB.1.5 variant in 2023, the BA.2.86 variant carries more than 35 mutations in critical parts of the virus, a number roughly equivalent to the Omicron variant which led to a surge in infections globally.

Efforts are underway to assess the efficacy of updated COVID-19 vaccines against the BA.2.86 variant. It's important to note that vaccines have shown greater success in preventing severe illness and death compared to re-infection.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that EG.5, a variant of the Omicron family's XBB recombinant strain, is responsible for around 17% of new COVID-19 cases in the United States.

Epidemiologists believe as a result that changes in temperatures and summer travel carrying the virus to new victims, as well as air conditioning due to record heat, can be blamed for the variant's rapid spread.