Weekly COVID-19 Epidemiological Update: Issue 16 (24 May 2022) 

Abstract

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and up to May 24, 2022, a cumulative total of approximately 523.7 million COVID-19 cases including about 6.3 deaths were reported from all six WHO regions. During the epidemiological week (EW) 20, cases increased in the regions of the Western Pacific (5.6%) and the Americas (6.9%) while they decreased in the four WHO regions. COVID-19 deaths increased in the regions of Europe (30.1%) and the Western Pacific (0.6%) while they decreased in the remaining four WHO regions. Globally, approximately 3,743,444 new COVID-19 cases were reported in EW 20 (May 15, 2022- May 21, 2022) - a 2.6% decrease compared to EW 19 (May 08, 2022-May 14, 2022) (Figure 1). For the same period, 9,814 new COVID-19 deaths were reported globally – a 7.5% relative decrease compared to the previous week. In the region of the Americas, 980,618 cases and 3,622 deaths were reported in EW 20 - a 6.9% increase in cases and 1.1% decrease in deaths compared to the previous week. At the subregional level, COVID-19 cases increased in all four subregions (range: 0.1-12.3% increase). During EW 20, COVID-19 deaths increased in Central America (19.2%) and the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands (6%), while they observed no significant changes in the two remaining subregions – North America (-2.9%) and South America (-0.5%) – compared to the previous week. The overall weekly case notification rate for the region of the Americas was 95.9 cases per 100,000 population during EW 20 (89.7 the previous week). Between EW 20 and 19, the 14-day COVID-19 death rate was 7.1 deaths per 1 million population (7.8 the previous two weeks). Among 32 countries/territories in the region with available data, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased in 13 countries and territories (range: 1% - 250%) during EW 20 compared to the previous week. Among 28 countries/territories with data available for COVID-19 ICU admissions, 8 observed an increase in weekly ICU admissions (range: 11.1% - 300%).