WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Complacency around mask wearing, travel and indoor gatherings created a perfect opportunity for the Omicron variant to spread rapidly throughout the Americas, said Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Carissa Etienne.

"Reduced public health measures were insufficient to reduce the scale of this wave. And now we're dealing with the consequence: a rise in infections is driving a surge in deaths," Etienne said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

New COVID-19 infections across the Americas region fell by 31 percent in the past week, marking a sixth successive week of declines, but deaths are still on the rise, up 5.6 percent, according to a weekly report of the PAHO, an international public health agency.

Deaths have increased for six consecutive weeks, according to the report.

Over the last week, the Americas reported 3.3 million new cases and more than 34,000 COVID-19-related deaths. In North America, the United States recorded the highest number of 17,000 deaths in the subregion, according to the report. Enditem

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