The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 13 August 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 587 175 687 reported cases and 6 442 967 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.1%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 22 851 172 cases, representing about 3.89% of the global count, with 346 335 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 (7 468 894; 32.68% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 454 213; 10.74%) and Jordan (1 726 717; 7.56%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19 associated deaths (142 861; CFR 1.91%) followed by Pakistan (30 527; CFR 1.95%) and Tunisia (29 189; CFR 2.56%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.08%) followed by Sudan (7.85%) and Syria (5.57%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.23%), Bahrain (0.23) and Qatar (0.16%) respectively.
During epidemiological week 32, the Region reported a decrease in cases by 32% when compared to the previous week (81 059 cases compared to 118 846 cases). A decrease by 2% was also observed for associated deaths (610 deaths in the current week compared to 622 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have decreased in most countries. However, the cases have increased in 3 countries in the Region compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19 associated deaths increased in 5 out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 418 551 089 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 1 999 080 tests in week 32, which shows a 9% decrease as compared to the previous week when 2 201 909 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (180 160 549), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (53 492 475) and Saudi Arabia (44 001 333). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.46%. 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 813 055 563. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses at 304 405 045 followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 153 211 861 and Egypt at 96 535 551. On the other hand, Bahrain (3 463 921), Yemen (880 609) and Djibouti (239 315) administrated the lowest number of COVID-19 doses in the Region respectively.**
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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