Start of 2021 sees overall upward trend in COVID-19 situation: WHO official

GENEVA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Following two weeks of lower reporting at the end of 2020, likely due to the holiday period, an overall upward trend of the COVID-19 outbreak has been seen in the first several weeks of 2021, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Monday.

Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said at the on-going 148th session of the WHO Executive Board that some 5 million cases of COVID-19 were reported last week globally.