The Latest Global Data-COVID 19
At the regional level, the number of newly reported 28-day cases decreased across?all?WHO?regions: the?Western?Pacific?Region?(-89%), the?African?Region?(-53%), the Region of the Americas (-38%), the South-East Asia Region (-36%), the??Eastern??Mediterranean??Region??(-22%),?and?the??European??Region??(-7%). The??number??of??newly reported?28-day?deaths?decreased?across?five?regions: the?Western?Pacific?Region?(-84%), the?African?Region (-66%), the South-East Asia Region (-57%), the European Region (-44%), and the Region of the Americas (-22%); while?reported?deaths?increased?in?the?Eastern?Mediterranean?Region?(+18%).
At the country level, the highest numbers of new 28-day cases were reported from the United States of America (1 085 170 new?cases; -29%), Japan?(752 935 new?cases; -77%), China?(537 561 new?cases; -95%), Germany (376 450 new?cases; +6%), and?the?Republic?of?Korea?(349 277 new?cases; -66%). The?highest?numbers?of new 28-day?deaths?were?reported?from?the?United?States?of?America?(12 111 new?deaths; -17%), China?(5915 new deaths; -91%), Japan?(4818 new?deaths; -52%), Brazil?(2186 new?deaths; -24%), and?the?United?Kingdom?(2027?new?deaths; -48%).
*Percent?change?in?the?number?ofnewly?confirmed?cases/deaths?in?the?past?28?days,?compared?to?28?days?prior.?Data?from?previous?weeks?are updated?continuously?with?adjustments?received?from?countries.
-SARS-CoV 2?variants?of?concern?
and?Omicron?subvariants?under?monitoring-
Geographic spread and prevalence
Globally, from 30 January to 26 February 2023 (28 days), 60 559 SARS-CoV-2 sequences were shared through GISAID. Among these, 60 521 sequences (99.9%) were the Omicron variant of concern (VOC).
There has been an increasing trend in the proportions of recombinant lineages. In epidemiological week 6 (6 to 12 February 2023), pooled recombinant variant sequences accounted for 41.5% (7748 sequences) of sequences, which has increased from 18.7% (8919 sequences) in week 2 (9 to 15 January 2023). The majority of these recombinant variants in week 6 were XBB.1.5 (32.6% of all sequences). In addition, recombinant variant XBF accounted for 1.2% of all sequences. During the same reporting period, Omicron BA.5 and its descendent lineages accounted for 31.8% of all shared sequences (5936 sequences) a reduction as compared to 61.8% in week 2 (9 to 15 January 2023). The prevalence of Omicron BA.2 and its descendent lineages remained stable (13.7% as compared to 13.9% in week 2, 2023).?Unassigned sequences?(all?presumably Omicron awaiting descendent?lineage assignment) accounted for 12.9% of the shared sequences in week 6. Omicron BA.1, BA.3 and BA.4 variants and their descendent lineages all accounted for <1% prevalence in week 6.
WHO is currently monitoring seven Omicron subvariants.5 These include BF.7 (BA.5 + R346T mutation in spike); BQ.1 (including BQ.1.1, with BA.5 + R346T, K444T, N460K mutations in spike); BA.2.75*; CH.1.1 (BA.2.75 + L452R, F486S); XBB*??excluding?XBB.1.5??(BA.2.10.1??and??BA.2.75??recombinant);??XBB.1.5??and?XBF??(BA.5.2.3??and??BA.2.75.3 recombinant). These variants are being monitored due to their observed transmission advantage relative to other circulating variants and additional amino acid changes that are known or suspected to confer fitness advantage.
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