The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 8 April 2023, the global cumulative incidence reached 762 615 022 reported cases and 6 910 720 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 0.91%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 23 324 725 cases representing about 3.06% of the global count, with 350 423 associated deaths (CFR 1.5%). Most countries in the Region are in the community transmission phase.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, the country that has reported the highest number of total cases in the Region is Islamic Republic of Iran (7 597 982; 32.57% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 465 545; 10.57%) and Jordan (1 746 997; 7.49%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19 associated deaths (145 571; CFR 1.92%), followed by Pakistan (30 652; CFR 1.94%) and Tunisia (29 363; CFR 2.55%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.07%), followed by Sudan (7.88%) and Syria (5.51%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.22%), Bahrain (0.22) and Qatar (0.14%).
During epidemiological week 14, the Region reported a decrease in cases by 1% when compared to the previous week (14 434 cases compared to 14 589 cases). An increase by 16% was observed for associated deaths (220 deaths in the current week compared to 189 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have decreased in all countries of the Region except in 3 out of 22 countries as compared to the previous week. The number of COVID-19 associated deaths also decreased in all countries of the Region except in 2 out of 22 countries as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 447 033 152 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 374 628 tests in week 14, which shows a 4% decrease as compared to the previous week when 389 568 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (199 991 429), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (56 030 163) and Saudi Arabia (45 335 851). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.22%. WHO recommends a positivity rate of around 3% to 12% as a general benchmark indicating adequate testing, which was achieved in most countries of the Region.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccination continues across the Region. The total number of doses administered so far in the 22 countries is 890 274 686. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses at 334 981 904, followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 157 785 811 and Egypt at 111 558 825. On the other hand, Bahrain (3 476 633), Yemen (1 275 258) and Djibouti (391 203) administrated the lowest number of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the Region.**
Supporting countries in the Region
The regional incident management support team continues to coordinate the response and provide technical support to countries and partners in the Region in the areas of coordination and partnership, surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical management, infection prevention and control, risk communication and community engagement, points of entry according to the International Health Regulations (2005), research, health systems, and essential health services among others.
For more data from the Region, please visit the COVID-19 dashboard.
*Reporting on weekly relative difference instead of cumulative difference to better reflect the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic as we witness a decline in reported cases. This decline could be partially due to the change in the frequency and quality of data being shared by some countries as they moved to reporting through weekly aggregated data.
**The data on vaccination is obtained from a number of sources including media reports and country websites for ministries of health.
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