The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 02 July 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 546 402 748 reported cases and 6 348 736 associated deaths at a case fatality-ratio (CFR) of 1.16%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 22 065 184 cases, representing about 4.10% of the global count, with 343 659 associated deaths (CFR 1.56%). 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 (7 238 840; 32.8% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 353 900; 10.65%) and Jordan (1 700 526; 7.71%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19-associated deaths (141 390; CFR 1.95%) followed by Pakistan (30 401; CFR 1.98%) and Tunisia (28 748; CFR 2.7%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.18%) followed by Sudan (7.9%) and Syria (5.63%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.24%), Bahrain (0.24) and Qatar (0.18%) respectively.
During epidemiological week 26, the Region reported an increase in cases by 36% when compared to the previous week (108 022 cases compared to 79 207 cases). An increase of 67% was also observed for associated deaths (150 deaths in the current week compared to 90 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have increased in almost all countries in the region as compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19-associated deaths increased in 9 out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 404 929 535 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 2 306 948 tests in week 26, which shows a 16% decrease compared to the previous week when 2 738 542 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (170 577 883), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (52 629 113) and Saudi Arabia (43 456 040). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.45%. 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 779 319 143. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses 287 170 265, followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 150 078 501 and Egypt at 91 644 993. On the other hand, Somalia (3 143 630), Yemen (864 544), and Djibouti (222 387) 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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