Weekly COVID-19 Epidemiological Update: Issue 9 ( 5 April 2022)

Abstract

[Executive Summary]. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and up to 5 April 2022, a cumulative total of 490,853,129 COVID-19 cases including 6,155,344 deaths were reported from all six WHO regions. Globally, approximately 9.5 million new COVID-19 cases were reported in epidemiological week (EW) 13 (27 March – 2 April 2022) – a 14.5% decrease compared to EW 12 (20 – 26 March 2022) (Figure 1). For the same period, 27,232 new COVID-19 deaths were reported globally – a 40.9% relative decrease compared the previous week. In the region of the Americas, 545,965 COVID-19 cases including 7,997 deaths were reported in EW 13 – a 14.1% and 60.2% decrease in cases and deaths respectively compared to the previous week. The large decrease in deaths during EW 13 is primarily due to the data artifact that caused a large increase in deaths during EW 12 from Chile’s retroactive addition of more than 11,000 COVID-19 deaths. At the subregional level, weekly COVID-19 cases decreased in all but one subregion – North America – where it increased by 6.7%. Similarly, weekly COVID-19 deaths decreased in all but one subregion – the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean Islands – where it increased by approximately 76.5%. The overall weekly case notification rate for the region of the Americas was 52.6 cases per 100,000 population during EW 13 (60.1 the previous week) and this rate has been decreasing the last 11 weeks. Between EW 13 and 12, the 14- day COVID-19 death rate was 26.4 deaths per 1 million population (29 the previous two weeks). Among 40 countries/territories in the region with available data, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased in 10 countries and territories (range: 0.9% - 400%) during EW 13 compared to the previous week. Similarly, among 31 countries and territories with available data, COVID-19 ICU admissions increased in four countries and territories (range: 9.9% - 100%). By the end of EW 13, the cumulative uptake of completed schedules per 100 people for COVID-19 vaccinations in the Region of the Americas was 64.6% (country range: 1%–92.9%) in the total population. (paho.org).