The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 4 June 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 529 602 482 reported cases and 6 311 574 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.19%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 21 792 004 cases, representing about 4.11% of the global count, with 343 282 associated deaths (CFR 1.58%). 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 (7 232 678; 33.19% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 328 582; 10.69%) and Jordan (1 697 271; 7.79%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19-associated deaths (141 328; CFR 1.95%) followed by Pakistan (30 379; CFR 1.98%) and Tunisia (28,648; CFR 2.75%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.18%) followed by Sudan (7.93%) and Syria (5.64%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates, Bahrain (0.25% for both) and Qatar (0.18%).
During epidemiological week 22, the Region reported an increase in cases by 24% when compared to the previous week (21 543 cases compared to 17 334 cases). A decrease by 20% was also observed for associated deaths (78 deaths in the current week compared to 97 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have increased in 17 out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19-associated deaths also decreased in all countries of the Region except in Afghanistan increased from 3 to 8 cases and Morocco increased from 1 to 3 cases as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 394 927 315 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 1 918 929 tests in week 22, which shows a 16% decrease compared to the previous week when 2 282 064 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (163 168 725), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (52 335 728) and Saudi Arabia (42 658 581). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.52%. 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 739 585 481. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses 258 021 731, followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 149 476 015 and Egypt at 85 265 369. On the other hand, Somalia (2 940 670), Yemen (859 040) and Djibouti (196 516) administrated the lowest number of COVID-19 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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