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19 January 2024 | Emergency Situational Updates
Overview
Globally, the number of new cases increased by 4% during the 28-day period of 11 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 1.1 million new cases. The number of new deaths decreased by 26% as compared to the previous 28-day period, with 8700 new fatalities reported. As of 7 January 2024, over 774 million confirmed cases and over seven million deaths have been reported globally.
During the period from 11 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, COVID-19 new hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) both recorded an overall increase of 40% and 13% with over 173 000 and 1900 admissions, respectively.
Globally, JN.1 is currently the most circulating VOI and is now reported by 71 countries, accounting for around 66% of the sequences in week 52 compared to around 25% in week 48. Its parent lineage, BA.2.86, is stable and accounted for 7.8% of sequences in week 52 compared to 7.0% in week 48. The initial risk evaluation for JN.1 was published on 19 December 2023, with an overall evaluation of low public health risk at global level based on available evidence.
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COVID-19 Epidemiological UpdateEdition 163 published 19 January 2024
In this edition:
• The Global WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard has been updated and adapted with a new interfaceon 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. ...
Overview
Globally, the number of new cases increased by 4% during the 28-day period of 11 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 1.1 million new cases. The number of new deaths decreased by 26% as compared to the previous 28-day period, with 8700 new fatalities reported. As of 7 January 2024, over 774 million confirmed cases and over seven million deaths have been reported globally.
During the period from 11 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, COVID-19 new hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) both recorded an overall increase of 40% and 13% with over 173 000 and 1900 admissions, respectively.
Globally, JN.1 is currently the most circulating VOI and is now reported by 71 countries, accounting for around 66% of the sequences in week 52 compared to around 25% in week 48. Its parent lineage, BA.2.86, is stable and accounted for 7.8% of sequences in week 52 compared to 7.0% in week 48. The initial risk evaluation for JN.1 was published on 19 December 2023, with an overall evaluation of low public health risk at global level based on available evidence.
Download (2.6 MB)
COVID-19 Epidemiological UpdateEdition 163 published 19 January 2024
In this edition:
- Key highlights
- Global overview
- Hospitalizations and ICU admissions
- SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest and variants under monitoring
- WHO regional overviews
Key highlights
- Globally, during the 28-day period from 11 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, 106 countries reported COVID- 19 cases and 51 countries reported COVID-19 deaths. 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 1.1 million new cases and 8700 new deaths, an increase of 4% and a decrease of 26%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (13 November to 10 December 2023). Trends in the number of reported new cases and deaths should be interpreted with caution due to decreased testing and sequencing,alongsidereportingdelaysinmanycountries . Accordingtoestimatesobtainedfromwastewater surveillance, clinical detection of cases underestimates the real burden from 2 to 19-fold.
- 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 around 8% as of 7 January 2024.
- During the 28-day period from 11 December 2023 to 7 January, 53 and 42 countries provided data at least once on COVID-19 hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU), respectively. From the available data, over 173 000 new hospitalizations and over 1900 new ICU admissions were reported during the 28-day period. Amongst the countries reporting these data consistently over the current and past reporting period, there was an overall increase of 40% and 13% in new hospitalizations and new ICU admissions, respectively.
- Globally, JN.1 is the most reported VOI (now reported by 71 countries), accounting for 65.5% of sequences in week 52 compared to 24.8% in week 48 (Figure 10, Table 6). Its parent lineage, BA.2.86, is stable and accounted for 7.8% of sequences in week 52 compared to 7.0% in week 48 (Figure 10, Table 6). The initial risk evaluation for JN.1 was published on 19 December 2023, with an overall evaluation of low public health risk at the global level based on available evidence. WHO is currently tracking several SARS-CoV-2 variants: five VOIs – XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, EG.5 BA.2.86 and JN.1; and five VUMs: DV.7, XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.2.3
• The Global WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard has been updated and adapted with a new interfaceon 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. ...