Weekly Epidemiological Update
Geneva: Globally, the numbers of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths has stabilized during the week of October 11 to 17, 2021, with over 2.7 million cases and over 46 000 new deaths, a 4% and 2% decrease respectively, representing similar numbers as those reported last week’s.
With the exception of the European region, which for the third consecutive week reported an increase in new COVID-19 cases (7% increase as compared with the previous week), all the other regions reported a decline.
The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported from the African Region (18%), followed by the Western Pacific Region (17%). The cumulative number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 240 million and the cumulative number of deaths is over 4.8 million
The number of new weekly deaths reported globally also showed a stabilization (2% decrease as compared with the previous week), with similar numbers as those reported last week’s in the European region (4% increase), Western Pacific region (1% increase) and the American region (1% decrease). The largest decline in new weekly deaths was reported from the African region showing a 24% decrease as compared to the previous week.
The regions reporting the highest weekly case incidence rates per 100 000 population were the European Region (145.6 new cases per 100 000 population) and the Region of the Americas (79.9 new cases per 100 000 population); the same two regions reported the highest weekly incidence in deaths, of 1.9 and 1.8 per 100 000 population, respectively.
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States of America (582 707 new cases; 11% decrease), the United Kingdom (283 756 new cases; 14% increase), the Russian Federation (217 322 new cases; 15% increase), Turkey (213 981 new cases; similar to the number reported in the previous week) and India (114 244 new cases; 18% decrease).
Globally, three additional countries, territories or areas (hereafter countries) reported cases with Variants Of Concern(VOCs) in the past week. As of October 19, cases of Alpha variant have been reported from 196 countries (one new country added), Beta variant from 145 countries (no new country added), Gamma variant from 99 countries, and Delta variant from 193 countries (two new countries added) across all regions.
Given its higher transmissibility, Delta has outcompeted other variants, including other VOCs, in many countries. Important sub-regional and country-level variation, nevertheless, continues to be observed; most notably within some South American countries, where the progression of the Delta variant has been more gradual than that observed in other regions, and other variants (e.g. Gamma, Mu) still contribute a large proportion of sequences samples.
– global bihari bureau
