Geneva: After five weeks of decline, the number of new weekly deaths related to COVID-19 has risen again, with over 8700 fatalities reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) – a 4% increase as compared to the previous week. The number of new weekly deaths increased in the WHO Region of the Americas (+21%) and the Western Pacific Region (+17%).
The highest number of new weekly deaths were reported in the United States of America (2367 new deaths; +32%), China (1201 new deaths; +32%), Brazil (989 new deaths; +52%), the Russian Federation (500 new deaths; –12%), and Italy (443 new deaths; +17%). India reported India 69 new deaths (;<1 new death per 100 000; -35%), during the week.
However, globally, the number of new weekly cases has continued to decline since a peak in January 2022. Overall reported cases and deaths have now both fallen more than 90% from their peaks earlier this year.
“More than 3 million cases were reported to WHO last week – and because many countries have reduced surveillance and testing, we know this number is under-reported. And 8737 deaths were reported – 8737 deaths too many. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to these numbers,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He added: “There is no acceptable level of deaths from COVID-19, when we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat this disease. Many of us who live in high-income countries have easy access to these tools. We now take them for granted. But for many people around the world, these tools remain scarce commodities.”
During the week of 6 until 12 June 2022, over 3.2 million cases were reported, similar to the number reported during the previous week. As of June 12, 2022, over 533 million confirmed cases and over 6.3 million deaths have been reported globally.
At the country level, the highest number of new weekly cases were reported from the United States of America (743 723 new cases; +13%), China (501 146 new cases; –5%), Germany (281 706 new cases; +16%), Brazil (279 862 new cases; +29%), and Australia (194 158 new cases; –13%). India reported 45 200 new cases -(3.3 new cases per 100 000; +90%), during the week.
The Omicron Variant Of Concern (VOC) remains the dominant variant circulating globally, accounting for 97% of sequences reported. Among Omicron lineages submitted to the Global initiative on sharing all influenza data (GISAID), BA.2 represents 39%, while BA.2.12.1 represents 28%, BA.5 represents 6%, and BA.4 represents 3%. For epidemiological week 20 (15 to 21 May 2022) and week 21 (22 to 28 May 2022), there was a 4% decline in the number of BA.2 sequences, while there were increases of 4%, 3%, and 2% in BA.5, BA.2.12.1, and BA.4 sequences respectively.
WHO stated today these trends should be interpreted with due consideration of the limitations of surveillance systems, including differences in sequencing capacity and sampling strategies between countries, as well as changes in sampling and sequencing strategies in multiple countries.
– global bihari bureau
