Geneva: The number of new weekly deaths reported showed a large (>15%) decline for all regions except for the European Region, which reported a similar number of weekly deaths compared to previous week, and the African Region which reported a slight increase (5%). The largest decline in weekly deaths was reported from the Western Pacific Region, with a 24% decline as compared to the previous week.
The regions reporting the highest weekly case and death incidence rates per 100 000 population, however, remain the same as in the previous weeks: the Region of the Americas (124.6 new cases per 100 000 population; 2.3 deaths
per 100 000 population) and the European Region (117.6 new cases per 100 000 population; 1.6 deaths per 100 000 population).
The highest numbers of new deaths were from the United States of America (14 842 new deaths, a 17% decrease), the Russian Federation (5469 new deaths, similar to the previous week), Mexico (3689 new deaths, a 13% increase), Brazil (3727 new deaths, a 10% increase), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (2967 new deaths, a 23% decrease).
As the numbers of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to decline globally, over 3.3 million new cases and over 55 000 new deaths were reported during the week of September 20 – 26, 2021. This shows a 10% decrease as compared to the previous week for both cases and deaths.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States of America (765 827 new cases; 31% decrease), Brazil (247 397 new cases; 135% increase due to changes in reporting), the United Kingdom (230 494 new cases; 14% increase), India (204 582 new cases; similar to previous week), and Turkey (192 778 new cases; similar to previous week).
The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported from the Eastern Mediterranean Region (17%), followed by the Western Pacific Region (15%), the Region of the Americas (14%), the African Region (12%) and the South-East Asia Region (10%); while weekly cases in the European Region were similar to the previous week. The cumulative number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 231 million and the cumulative number of deaths is more than 4.7 million.
Globally, cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in 193 countries, territories or areas (hereafter countries; no new country added since last two weeks), while 142 countries (no new country since last week) have reported cases of the Beta variant; and 96 countries (no new countries since last week) have reported cases of the Gamma variant. The Delta variant has been reported in 187 countries (two new countries since last week), across all six WHO regions as of September 28, 2021.
– global bihari bureau
