Geneva: After showing an increasing trend for the last few weeks, globally, the number of COVID-19 weekly cases decreased by 9% during the week of 25 to 31 July 2022 as compared to the previous week, with over 6.5 million new cases reported, the World Health Organization stated today. The number of new weekly deaths remained stable this week as compared to the previous week, with over 14 000 fatalities reported. As of July 31, 2022, over 574 million confirmed cases and over 6.3 million deaths have been reported globally.
At the country level, the highest numbers of new weekly cases were reported from Japan (1 379 099 new cases; 42%), the United States of America (923 366 new cases; +2%), the Republic of Korea (564 437 new cases; +25%), Germany (459 724 new cases; -26%), and Italy (394 583 new cases; -26%). India registered 131 056 new cases; (9.5 new cases per 100 000; -5%). India recorded 324 new deaths; (<1 new death per 100 000; similar to the previous week’s figures).
The highest numbers of new weekly deaths were reported from the United States of America (2 626 new deaths; -10%), Brazil (1 827 new deaths; +31%), Italy (1 205 new deaths; +27%), Japan (655 new deaths; +141%), and Australia (637 new deaths; +24%).
A comparison of sequences submitted to GISAID in epidemiological week 29 (17 to 23 July 2022) and week 28 (10 to 16 July 2022) shows that BA.5 and BA.4 Omicron descendent lineages continued to be dominant globally, with a weekly prevalence that increased from 63.8% to 69.6%, and from 10.9% to 11.8%, respectively. Conversely, within the same time period, BA.2.12.1 and BA.2 sequences showed a decline from 4.4% to 1.9% and from 2% to 1.5%, respectively.
– global bihari bureau
