Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 18 January 2022

Globally, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased in the past week (10-16 January 2022), while the number of new deaths remained similar to that of the previous week. Across the six WHO regions, over 18 million new cases were reported this week, a 20% increase, as compared to the previous week. Over 45 000 new deaths were also reported. As of 16 January, over 323 million confirmed cases and over 5.5 million deaths have been reported worldwide.

Despite a slowdown of the increase in case incidence at the global level, all regions reported an increase in the incidence of weekly cases with the exception of the African Region, which reported a 27% decrease. The South-East Asia region reported the largest increase in new cases last week (145%), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean Region (68%). New weekly deaths increased in the South-East Asia Region (12%) and Region of the Americas (7%) while remaining approximately the same as the previous week in the other regions.

In this edition we also provide two updates on:

The WHO COVID-19 global rapid risk assessment The geographic distribution of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports

Weekly operational update on COVID-19 - 18 January 2022

In this edition of the COVID-19 Weekly Operational Update, highlights of country-level actions and WHO support to countries include:

Supporting COVID-19 control measures in Islamic Republic of Iran with donation of new equipment

Providing continued support to countries on the detection of Variants of Concern (VOC) in the European Region

COVAX delivering its 1 billionth COVID-19 vaccine dose

Providing lifesaving medical-grade oxygen to the Philippines to fight against new COVID-19 variants

Supporting prevention measures and COVID-19 vaccination for migrants struggling during lockdown in Thailand

Mitigating the COVID-19 outbreak through global data sharing: The WHO Global Clinical Platform for COVID-19 Call to action

Updates on WHO’s financing to support countries on COVID-19 response implementation to suppress transmission, reduce exposure, and protect the vulnerable and save lives

Progress on a subset of global indicators that demonstrate country and global progress to end the acute phase of the pandemic

About WHO

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.