10 per cent decrease in global deaths, highest reported new cases in single week: WHO

India’s COVID deaths1.60 per cent of country’s total reported cases, has highest number of recoveries globally, is the second highest in terms of cases after the US, and the third highest number of deaths, after the US and Brazil

According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, dated September 21, In the previous week from September 14 through 20, there were almost two million new cases of COVID-19, which represents a six per cent increase compared to the previous week, and the highest number of reported cases in a single week since the beginning of the epidemic.

During the same period, there was a 10 per cent decrease in the number of deaths, with 37 700 deaths reported in the past seven days. To date, over 30.6 million COVID-19 cases and 950 000 deaths have been reported to WHO.

With the exception of the African region, an increase in the weekly case incidence was reported across all WHO regions in the last seven days.

As of September 22, 8 am, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare data showed 975861 active cases, 17.54 per cent of the country’s total cases, with 27438 reported over the previous day. Total discharges were 4497867, 80.86 per cent of total cases, with 101468 reported over the last 24 hours. 1053 deaths were reported over the last day, adding to the total of 88935, making up 1.60 per cent of India’s total COVID-19 reported cases.

As per data from the John Hopkins University & Medicine, (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) India has the highest number of recoveries, the second highest number of cases after the US, the third highest number of deaths, after the US and Brazil.

African Region continues to show a marked decline

Overall, WHO’s weekly epidemiological update shows that the region of the Americas continues to carry the highest burden of COVID-19 globally, accounting for over 38 per cent of all new cases reported in the past seven days, although the region has reported a 22 per cent decrease in new deaths. The WHO European Region showed the greatest rise in deaths in the past week, with a 27 per cent increase compared to the previous week.

The WHO South-East Asia Region has continued to report an increase in new COVID-19 deaths, with over 9000 deaths in the past week, accounting for 25 per cent of all reported deaths and surpassing 100 000 total COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition, the region accounts for 35 per cent of new cases reported in the past week.

The Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions have both reported a slight increase in reported cases and deaths over the last three weeks. The African Region continues to show a marked decline with decreases of 12 per cent and 16 per cent in reported cases and deaths respectively in the past week.

South-East Asia Region second most affected region

Globally, WHO data shows that the South-East Asia Region is the second most affected region, after the Americas and currently accounts for 35 per cent and 25 per cent of cases and deaths, respectively, newly reported globally in the past seven days. Although the number of cases and deaths has been increasing steadily since March, the increases have slowed, with increases in new cases and deaths of only one per cent and four per cent respectively in the past week.

The countries reporting the highest number of new cases continue to be India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, while Myanmar and Nepal showed the highest increase in new cases in the past seven days. The countries reporting the highest number of new deaths per million population include India and Maldives, with 6 and 4 deaths per million population respectively, while Myanmar continues to show the highest increase in deaths in the past week.