The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 15 October 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 621 933 529 reported cases and 6 562 123 associated deaths at a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.06%. Meanwhile, the 22 Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries have reported a total of 23 123 803 cases, representing about 3.72% of the global count, with 348 552 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 (7 554 006; 32.67% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (2 461 049; 10.64%) and Jordan (1 746 997; 7.55%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total COVID-19 associated deaths (144 516; CFR 1.91%), followed by Pakistan (30 623; CFR 1.95%) and Tunisia (29 257; CFR 2.55%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (18.08%), followed by Sudan (7.83%) and Syria (5.52%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by United Arab Emirates (0.23%), Bahrain (0.22) and Qatar (0.15%).
During epidemiological week 41, the Region reported a decrease in cases by 9% when compared to the previous week (15 391cases compared to 16 840 cases). A decrease of 14% was also observed for associated deaths (71 deaths in the current week compared to 83 deaths in the previous week).
The weekly number of cases have decreased in many countries of the Region except in 9 out of 22 as compared to the previous week. This week the number of COVID-19 associated deaths decreased in all countries except in four out of 22 countries of the Region as compared to the previous week.*
In terms of testing, a total of 434 792 229 laboratory tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 1 118 909 tests in week 41, which shows a 16% decrease compared to the previous week when 1 325 315 tests were conducted. The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (192 809 671), followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (54 233 569) and Saudi Arabia (44 431 171). The average positivity rate for the Region is 5.32%. 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 830 150 664. Pakistan has administered the highest number of doses at 313 046 883, followed by Islamic Republic of Iran at 154 573 470 and Egypt at 98 911 424. On the other hand, Bahrain (3 472 587), Yemen (1 065 395) and Djibouti (267 794) administrated the lowest number of COVID-19 vaccine 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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