The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 30 July 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 572 244 035 reported cases and 6 401 683 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.12%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 22 643 374 cases, representing about 3.96% of the global count, with 345 036 associated deaths (CFR 1.52%). 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 (7 381 299; 32.6% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 443 772; 10.79%) and Jordan (1 715 296; 7.58%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19 associated deaths (141 937; CFR 1.92%) followed by Pakistan (30 487; CFR 1.96%) and Tunisia (29 041; CFR 2.57%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.11%) followed by Sudan (7.86%) and Syria (5.6%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.24%), Bahrain (0.23%) and Qatar (0.17%) respectively.
During epidemiological week 30, the Region reported a decrease in cases by 14% when compared to the previous week (141 814 cases compared to 164 580 cases). An increase by 6% was also observed for associated deaths (441 deaths in the current week compared to 418 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have increased in six countries in the region as compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19 associated deaths increased in 8 out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 414 310 581 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 2 213 768 tests in week 30, which shows a 13% decrease as compared to the previous week when 2 550 336 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (177 159 339), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (53 176 227) and Saudi Arabia (43 876 848). 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 805 208 706. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses at 302 466 054 followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 152 446 648 and Egypt at 95 223 214. On the other hand, Bahrain (3 460 885), Yemen (874 886), and Djibouti (231 653) 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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