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(CNN) -
Covid-19 infections have risen at an alarming rate for eight consecutive weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, as the virus spreads unabated through hotspots in various corners of the world. .
More than 5.2 million new cases were recorded last week, the most in a single week since the pandemic began, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference in Geneva on Monday.
Deaths also rose for the fifth week in a row, he said, and the pandemic has already officially claimed more than 3 million lives.
And Tedros warned that the pace of the pandemic is accelerating, even as some countries tout their own improved vaccination programs.
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"It took nine months to reach 1 million deaths, four months to reach 2 million and three months to reach 3 million deaths," said Tedros.
"Large numbers can numb us, but each of these deaths is a tragedy for families, communities and nations."
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And, as more older or at-risk adults are fully vaccinated and some economies open up, the WHO director-general suggested that most of the spread of the virus could be shifting to younger adults.
Tedros told reporters that infections and hospitalizations among 25-59-year-olds are "increasing at an alarming rate," possibly due to highly communicable variants and increasing social mixing among younger people.
Doctors have already reported concerns about more young adults contracting COVID-19 in some hotspots, including Brazil, where a new variant has led to a devastating increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
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The severe warning from the WHO serves as a reminder of the state of the pandemic, which has yet to dissipate despite disparate vaccine launches around the world.
India is suffering from a dire second wave of the virus, and a significant portion of the world's infections are occurring there.
The country has reported more than 200,000 new cases in each of the past six days, nearly 1.5 million in the past week, and crowded hospitals are turning patients away as they fight the spread.
Among India's many active cases is former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in stable condition in hospital after contracting COVID-19.
With more than 15 million infections, the country now ranks second after the United States in the global case count.
The United States has reported nearly 32 million infections.
England added India to its list of travel bans on Monday and Prime Minister Boris Johnson canceled a scheduled trip there, but the political campaign continues despite the dire situation.
Narendra Modi's ruling party said it would hold "small public gatherings" with a limit of 500 people in the state of West Bengal, one of five states where state elections are taking place, according to a party statement on Monday.
The United States vaccinates millions of people every day.
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Much of Asia is similarly dealing with the increase in cases.
A sudden surge in Thailand has reduced hopes of receiving more tourists there, and hospitality venues have been identified as a cause of recent outbreaks.
In the United States, where millions of people get vaccinated every day, cases and hospitalizations have risen in the last month.
Experts cite variants of the coronavirus, including the more contagious B.1,1.7 strain that recently fueled another surge in Michigan, and an increasingly widespread sense of pandemic fatigue as contributing factors.
Meanwhile, in Europe, there are some signs of a plateau in the continent's third wave of infections, and spotty vaccine deployment across the European Union has started to accelerate.
But doubts about vaccines and the lingering effects of pre-vaccine fears are still evident.
A mass vaccination center in the southern French city of Nice was forced to close early over the weekend after only 58 people showed up to receive 4,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which may be linked to a very small number of rare cases of blood clots, a regional police spokesman told CNN.
And European regulators face another decision on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which US authorities halted after some cases of clotting were reported.
A decision from the European Medicines Agency on the vaccine is expected on Tuesday.
- CNN's Naomi Thomas, Christina Maxouris and Saskya Vandoorne contributed reporting.
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