The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 18 June 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 536 717 511 reported cases and 6 329 596 associated deaths at a case fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.18%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 21 877 955 cases, representing about 4.08% of the global count, with 343 419 associated deaths (CFR 1.57%). 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 (7 234 597; 33.10% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 331 872; 10.66%) and Jordan (1 698 316; 7.78%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19-associated deaths (141 363; CFR 1.95 %) followed by Pakistan (30 383; CFR 1.98%) and Tunisia (28 670; CFR 2.74%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.18%) followed by Sudan (7.92%) and Syria (5.63%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates, Bahrain (0.25% for both) and Qatar (0.18%).
During epidemiological week 24, the Region reported an increase in cases by 56.0% when compared to the previous week (52 362 cases compared to 33 589 cases). An increase of 21% was also observed for associated deaths (75 deaths in the current week compared to 62 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have increased in 20 out of 22 countries in the Region, but the number of cases have decreased in Bahrain by 100% and Libya by 6% as compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19-associated deaths also decreased in 14 out of 22 countries of the Region while 8 countries observed increased numbers of deaths as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 399 884 045 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 2 577 908 tests in week 24, which shows an 8% increase compared to the previous week when 2 378 822 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (166 850 804), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (52 500 860) and Saudi Arabia (43 098 042). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.47%. 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 744 844 700. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses 258 021 731, followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 149 575 513 and Egypt at 88 052 405. On the other hand, Somalia (3 032 092), Yemen (859 241), and Djibouti (209 475) 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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