Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 10 August 2023

Globally, nearly 1.5 million new COVID-19 cases and over 2500 deaths were reported in the last 28 days (10 July to 6 August 2023), an increase of 80% and a decrease of 57%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days. While five WHO regions have reported decreases in the number of both cases and deaths, the Western Pacific Region has reported an increase in cases and a decrease in deaths. As of 6 August 2023, over 769 million confirmed cases and over 6.9 million deaths have been reported globally. Currently, reported cases do not accurately represent infection rates due to the reduction in testing and reporting globally. During this 28-day period, 44% (103 of 234) of countries reported at least one case to WHO – a proportion that has been declining since mid-2022.

In this edition, we include:

• The COVID-19 epidemiological update at the global and the regional levels
• An update on hospitalizations and ICU admissions
• An update on the SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest (VOI) and variants under monitoring (VUM)