Weekly COVID-19 Epidemiological Update: Issue 14 (10 May 2022)

Abstract

[Executive Summary]. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and up to May 09, 2022, a cumulative total of about 515 million COVID-19 cases including 6.2 deaths were reported from all six WHO regions. While the global number of new cases and deaths has continued to decline, weekly cases increased in the African Region (12.9%), the region of the Americas (15.3%), and the Western Pacific region (1.1%) during epidemiological week (EW) 18. Similarly, COVID-19 weekly deaths increased in the African Region and the region of the Americas by 87.8% and 3.4%, respectively. Globally, approximately 3,639,510 new COVID-19 cases were reported in epidemiological week (EW) 18 (May 01, 2022-May 07, 2022) – 9.3% decrease compared to EW 17 (April 24, 2022-April 30, 2022) (Figure 1). For the same period, 12,239 new COVID-19 deaths were reported globally – a 24.5% relative decrease compared the previous week. In the region of the Americas, 719,811 cases and 4,385 deaths were reported in EW 18 - a 15.3% and a 3.4% increase, respectively, compared to the previous week. At the subregional level, COVID-19 cases increased in all four subregions (range: 12.7 – 26.2%) during EW 18. In the same period, while South America reported a decline in weekly deaths, the remaining three subregions reported an increase in deaths (range: 4.1 – 49%). The overall weekly case notification rate for the region of the Americas was 69.5 cases per 100,000 population during EW 18 (61 the previous week). Between EW 18 and 17, the 14-day COVID-19 death rate was 8.4 deaths per 1 million population (8.3 the previous two weeks). Among 32 countries/territories in the region with available data, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased in 10 countries and territories (range: 4.9% - 100%) during EW 18 compared to the previous week. Among 25 countries/territories with available data, COVID-19 ICU admissions increased in 5 countries and territories (range: 7.9% - 100%).