Baku, December 23, AZERTAC
Globally, during the 28-day period from 20 November to 17 December 2023, 105 countries reported COVID19 cases and 50 countries reported COVID-19 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Note that this does not reflect the actual number of countries where cases or deaths are occurring, as many countries have stopped or changed frequency of reporting. From the available data, the number of reported cases has increased while deaths have decreased during the 28-day period, with over 850 000 new cases and over 3000 new deaths, an increase of 52% and a decrease of 8%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (23 October to 19 November 2023). Trends in the number of reported new cases and deaths should be interpreted with caution due to decreased testing and sequencing, alongside reporting delays in many countries. ∙ SARS-CoV-2 PCR percent positivity, as detected in integrated sentinel surveillance as part of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and reported to FluNet was 7.6% as of 10 December 2023. ∙ During the 28-day period from 13 November to 10 December 2023, 58 and 36 countries provided data at least once on COVID-19 hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU), respectively. From the available data, over 118 000 new hospitalizations and over 1600 new ICU admissions were reported during the 28-day period. Amongstthe countries reporting these data consistently over the current and past reporting period, there was an overall increase of 23% and 51% in new hospitalizations and new ICU admissions, respectively. ∙ On 18 December 2023, JN.1 (link), a sub-lineage of the BA.2.86 Omicron variant was designated a separate variant of interest (VOI), apart from its parent lineage BA.2.86, due to its rapid increase in prevalence in recent weeks. JN.1 accounted for 27.1% of sequences in week 48 compared to 3.3% in week 44. WHO is currently tracking several SARS-CoV-2 variants: five VOIs – XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, EG.5 and BA.2.86 and JN.1; and five VUMs. Globally, EG.5 remains to be the most reported VOI. However, it has shown a declining trend over the past few weeks, accounting for 36.3% of sequences shared on GISAID in week 48 compared to 53.7% in week 44. ∙ The Global WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard has been updated and adapted with a new interface on 22 December 2023 to support WHO and Member States’ work to transition from COVID-19 as an emergency to longer-term disease management, as outlined in WHO’s 3 May 2023 COVID-19 2023-2025 Updated Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. The new dashboard will progressively incorporate more components throughout 2024. The previous link of the Global WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard will still be active and redirect users to the new one from 22 December onward. Please note that start time of the redirection can differ around the world by up to 24 hours.