Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 29 June 2021

In the past week, the number of new COVID-19 cases remained similar to the previous week, and the number of new deaths continued to decrease, with over 2.6 million new cases and 57 000 new deaths reported globally. This is the lowest weekly mortality figure since those recorded in early November 2020. Globally, COVID-19 incidence remains very high, with an average of over 370 000 cases reported each day over the past week. The cumulative number of cases reported globally now exceeds now 180 million and the number of global deaths is almost 4 million. This week, the African region recorded a sharp increase in incidence (33%) and mortality (42%) when compared to the previous week. All Regions, with the exception of the African Region, reported a decline in the number of new deaths in the past week.

In this edition, a special focus update on the variants is provided, along with the geographical distribution of variants of concern (VOCs) Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2). This edition also includes an overview of current challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a summary of the WHO global conference on communicating science during health emergencies.