The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant increases in malaria cases and fatalities between 2019 and 2020.

According to WHO research, most countries reduced malaria prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services during the first year of the health crisis (2019-2020).

Moderate delays in the delivery of malaria services, according to the research, contributed to 14 million malaria cases and 69,000 fatalities, said Pedro Alonso, WHO Global Malaria Program Director, at the introduction of the UN agency's annual World Malaria Report in Geneva.

In 2020, Africa accounted for 95 percent of all malaria cases and 96 percent of all fatalities worldwide.

Nonetheless, "the terrible scenario" predicted by the UN agency "has not materialized," said Alonso, who said that WHO had predicted a doubling of malaria mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa at the start of the pandemic.

However, the investigation concluded that there was only a 12% raise, which was made possible by the concerted efforts of numerous countries. We were able to escape the worst-case scenario of malaria deaths, according to Alonso.

The analysis revealed a 27 percent decrease in infections per thousand people from 2000 to 2020, as well as a decreased trend in fatality rates.