The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 27 August 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 597 645 130 reported cases and 6 474 881 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.08%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 22 969 838 cases, representing about 3.84% of the global count, with 347 388 associated deaths (CFR 1.51%). 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 (7 521 969; 32.75% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 457 871; 10.70%) and Jordan (1 735 495; 7.56%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19-associated deaths (143 684; CFR 1.91%) followed by Pakistan (30 574; CFR 1.95%) and Tunisia (29 233; CFR 2.56%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.07%) followed by Sudan (7.85%) and Syria (5.56%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.23%), Bahrain (0.23) and Qatar (0.16%) respectively.
During epidemiological week 34, the Region reported a decrease in cases by 31% when compared to the previous week (48 327cases compared to 70 339 cases). A decrease by 20% was also observed for associated deaths (467 deaths in the current week compared to 586 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have decreased in all countries of the Region compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19-associated deaths also decreased in most of the countries except in four out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 422 580 110 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 1 998 646 tests in week 34, which shows a 2% decrease as compared to the previous week when 2 030 375 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (183 178 842), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (53 743 896) and Saudi Arabia (44 092 371). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.44%. 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 819 217 295. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses at 307 354 160 followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 153 666 785 and Egypt at 97 258 642. On the other hand, Bahrain (3 466 865), Yemen (880 609) and Djibouti (242 916) 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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