■ The WHO reported the first rise in global COVID-19 deaths in six weeks.

Toll of global COVID deaths rises for first time in six weeks

A top World Health Organization expert on the coronavirus pandemic said Monday that the weekly global count of deaths from COVID-19 is rising again, a “worrying sign” after about six weeks of declines.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 at the U.N. health agency, said the growth followed a fifth straight week of confirmed cases increasing worldwide. She said the number of reported cases went up up in four of the WHO’S six regions, though there were significant variations within each region.

“In the last week, cases have increased by 8 percent,” Van Kerkhove told reporters. “In Europe, that is 12 percent — and that’s driven by several countries.”

The increase is due in part to the spread of a variant that first emerged in Britain and is now circulating in many other places, including eastern Europe, she said.

Southeast Asia registered a 49 percent week-to-week jump in confirmed cases, while WHO’S Western Pacific region reported a 29 percent rise largely fueled by the Philippines, Van Kerkhove said. The eastern Mediterranean region saw cases rise 8 percent, while the number of cases reported in the Americas and Africa declined.

“I do want to mention that it had been about six weeks where we were seeing decreases in deaths,” Van Kerkhove said. “And in the last week, we’ve started to see a slight increase in deaths across the world, and this is to be expected if we are to see increasing cases. But this is also a worrying sign.”

WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan acknowledged an urge among the public in many places to emerge from pandemic restrictions. Ryan insisted that any easing should coincide with measures such as strict case surveillance and high levels of vaccination, and he said that vaccines alone would not be enough.

“I’m afraid we’re all trying to grasp at straws. We’re trying to find the golden solution: ‘So we just get enough vaccine and we push enough vaccine to people and that’s going to take care of it,’ ” he said. “I’m sorry, it’s not.” In other developments:

■ The World Health Organization has a message for any countries that have stocks of Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccines but are hesitant to use it:

Give it to us; we have a lot of would-be takers. Dr. Bruce Aylward, a special adviser to the WHO director-general, told reporters that countries pressing ahead with a rollout of the Astrazeneca vaccine are “very keen” to receive it, including participants in the U.n.-backed COVAX program that aims to get vaccines to countries where they are most needed, whether rich or poor.

■ Spain’s health minister said the country will resume use of the Astrazeneca vaccine by extending it to adults up to age 65 and that authorities will consider vaccinating older people after new studies revealed Monday that the shot provides strong protection to all.

■ President Vladimir Putin said he will get a coronavirus vaccine shot Tuesday, several months after widespread vaccination started in Russia. Putin, 68, told a meeting with government officials and vaccine developers Monday that he will get his shot “tomorrow,” without specifying which coronavirus vaccine out of the three authorized for use in Russia he will take.