Geneva: Globally, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased in the past week (January 17-23, 2022) by 5%, while the number of new deaths remained similar to that reported during the previous week. Across the six WHO regions, over 21 million new cases were reported this week, representing the highest number of weekly cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
Nearly 50 000 new deaths were also reported. As of January 23, 2022, over 346 million confirmed cases and over 5.5 million deaths have been reported worldwide.
At the country level, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States of America (4 215 852 new cases; a 24% decrease), France (2 443 821 new cases; a 21% increase), India (2 115 100 new cases; a 33% increase), Italy (1 231 741 new cases; similar to the previous week), and Brazil (824 579 new cases; a 73% increase).
The highest number of new deaths were reported from the United States of America (10,795 new deaths; a 17% decrease), the Russian Federation (4792 new deaths; a 7% decrease), India (3343 new deaths; a 47% increase), Italy (2440 new deaths; a 24% increase), and The United Kingdom (1888 new deaths; similar to the previous week’s figures).
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Overall, the number of new weekly deaths increased in the South-East Asia Region (44%), the Eastern Mediterranean Region (15%) and the Region of the Americas (7%), while the other Regions all reported declines in new weekly deaths.
A slower increase in case incidence was observed at the global level, with only half of the regions reporting an increase in the number of new weekly cases, as compared to five out of six regions in the previous week. The Eastern Mediterranean Region reported the largest increase in the number of new cases (39%), followed by the South-East Asia Region (36%) and the European Region (13%).
– global bihari bureau
