The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread locally and globally. As of 17 September 2022, the global cumulative incidence reached 608,804,714 reported cases and 6,516,488 associated deaths, with a fatality rate (CFR) of 1.07%. Meanwhile, 22 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 23,049,848 cases, representing approximately 3.79% of the global total, with an associated death toll of 348,172 (CFR 1.51%). Most countries in the region are in the community transmission stage.
Since the outbreak began, the country that has reported the highest number of cases in the region is the Islamic Republic of Iran (7 542 533; 32.72% of the total region), followed by Iraq (2 459 178; 10.67%). Jordan (1 745 032; 7.57%). The Islamic Republic of Iran also had the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths (144,287; CFR 1.91%), followed by Pakistan (30,606; CFR 1.95%) and Tunisia (29,246; CFR 2.55%). The highest CFRs were reported in Yemen (18.06%), followed by Sudan (7.84%) and Syria (5.53%), while the lowest CFRs were in the United Arab Emirates (0.23%), Bahrain (0.22) and Qatar ( 0.15%). ).
In epidemiological week 37, the region reported an 11% decrease in the number of cases compared to the previous week (22,265 cases compared with 24,902 cases). A 28% reduction in related deaths was also observed (186 deaths this week compared to 258 deaths the previous week).
Weekly cases decreased in all but four of the region’s 22 countries compared to the previous week. COVID-19-related deaths this week also decreased in all but three of the region’s 22 countries compared to the previous week. *
In terms of testing, a total of 428,620,265 clinical trials have been performed since the start of the outbreak across the region, including 1,921,244 tests in 37 weeks. This represents a 3% increase compared to the previous week, which had 1,874,194 tests. implementation. The United Arab Emirates (187 995 494) reported the highest number of PCR tests, followed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (53 978 439) and Saudi Arabia (44 240 109). The average positive rate in this region is 5.38%. WHO recommends a positive rate of approximately 3% to 12% as a general benchmark for good testing. This has been achieved in most countries in the region.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccination continues throughout the region. The total number of doses given so far in 22 countries is 821 037 305. Pakistan received the most doses with 307 354 160 doses, followed by the Islamic Republic of Iran with 153 956 137 doses and Egypt with 98 019 706 doses. Hand, Bahrain (3 468 872), Yemen (898 257) and Djibouti (246 459) administered the lowest number of his COVID-19 doses in the region. **
Regional Supporting Countries
Regional Incident Management Support Teams coordinate the response and work with regional countries in the areas of coordination and partnerships, oversight, laboratory capacity, clinical management, infection prevention and control, risk communication, community engagement, and points. We will continue to provide technical support to our partners. Permission to enter the country under the International Health Regulations (2005), Research, Health System and Essential Health Services.
*We are reporting relative weekly differences rather than cumulative differences to better reflect the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic as we see a decline in reported cases. This decline may be partially due to changes in the frequency and quality of data shared in some countries that have moved to reporting weekly aggregated data.
**Data on immunizations are obtained from various sources, including media reports and websites of national ministries of health.
