Geneva: Globally, the number of new weekly cases of COVID-19 has continued to decline since a peak in January 2022. During the week of May 23 until 29, 2022, over 3.3 million cases were reported, an 11% decrease as compared to the previous week.
The number of new weekly COVID-19 related deaths also continues to decline, with over 9 600 fatalities reported, representing a 3% decrease as compared to the previous week.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to the “concerning” trends in several regions. “Reported cases and deaths are increasing in the Americas, while deaths are also increasing in the Western Pacific region and in Africa,” he told reporters here and emphasized that the pandemic is not over. “We continue to call on all countries to maintain testing and sequencing services, to give us a clearer picture of where the virus is spreading, and how it’s changing. And we call on all countries to vaccinate all health workers, older people and other at-risk groups,” he said.
At the regional level, the number of new weekly cases increased in the American Region (+9%) and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+1%), while it decreased in the remaining four World Health Organization (WHO) regions.
The number of new weekly deaths increased in the Western Pacific Region (+18%), in the African Region (+15%), and in the Region of the Americas (+13%), while decreasing trends were observed in the remaining three regions.
At the country level, the highest number of new weekly cases were reported from the United States of America (736 298 new cases; +3%), China (576 367 new cases; +6%), Australia (294 128 new cases; –18%), Japan (203 365 new cases; –18%), and Germany (183 844 new cases; –38%).
The highest number of new weekly COVID-19 related deaths were reported in the United States of America (2 461 new deaths; +25%), Brazil (826 new deaths; +16%), Italy (624 new deaths; –15%), the Russian Federation (605 new deaths; –11%), and China (578 new deaths; +82%).
As of May 29, 2022, over 526 million confirmed cases and over six million deaths have been reported globally.
There continues to be a decline in the number of SARS–CoV–2 sequences submitted to the Global initiative on sharing all influenza data (GISAID), with 152 476 submitted within the last 30 days. The Omicron Variant Of Concern (VOC) remains the dominant variant circulating globally, accounting for nearly all sequences reported. Among the Omicron sublineages, BA.2 is the dominant sublineage, despite declining from 78% to 75% of Omicron sequences submitted in the last 30 days. The BA.1 sublineage has also declined in prevalence from 7% to 4%.
Three Omicron sublineages have shown an increasing trend among Omicron sequences submitted in the last 30 days: BA.2.12.1 has risen from 11% to 16%; BA.4 has risen from 2% to 3%; and BA.5 has risen from 1% to 2%. During the same period, the prevalence of BA.3 has declined to <1%.
– global bihari bureau
