Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 15 February 2022

Overview

During the week of 7 to 13 February 2022, the global number of new COVID-19 cases decreased by 19% as compared to the number reported during the previous week, while the number of new deaths remained similar to that of the previous week. Across the six WHO regions, just over 16 million new cases and just under 75 000 new deaths were reported. As of 13 February 2022, over 409 million confirmed cases and over 5.8 million deaths have been reported globally.

At the regional level, the Western Pacific Region reported an increase of 19% in the number of new weekly cases while all other regions reported decreases: the South-East Asia Region (37% decrease), the Region of the Americas (32% decrease), the African Region (30% decrease), the European Region (16% decrease) and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (12% decrease). The number of new weekly deaths increased in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (38%), the Western Pacific Region (27%), the African Region (14%) and the Region of the Americas (5%), while it remained similar to that of the previous week in the European Region and decreased in the South-East Asia Region (9%).

In this edition we provide updates on:

• The geographic distribution of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), including the spread and prevalence of the Omicron variant
  
• The BA.2 Pango lineage of the Omicron variant of concern