2023-01-10-世界卫生组织-Weekly_epidemiological_update_on_COVID-19_-_11_January_2023_15页_962kb

This report provides a weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 as of 11 January 2023, covering global trends, variant monitoring, regional data, hospitalizations, and operational activities.

Global COVID-19 cases and deaths showed a reduction in the week ending 8 January 2023, with approximately 2.9 million cases and over 11,000 deaths reported, representing decreases of 9% and 12% respectively compared to the previous week. However, the data may be incomplete due to holiday-related testing reductions and reporting delays. Over the past 28 days, cases and deaths increased by 10% and 22% compared to the prior period. Cumulative cases exceeded 659 million, and deaths surpassed 6.6 million. High caseload countries include Japan, USA, and Brazil, while high death toll countries include the USA and Brazil.

SARS-CoV-2 variants are dominated by Omicron lineages, with BA.5 and its descendants accounting for the majority of global sequences. Variant BQ.1.5, a sublineage, shows potential growth advantage and increased immune escape but lacks confirmed severity data; more research is recommended.

WHO regional overviews indicate varying trends: the European Region saw a 36% decrease in cases and a 34% decrease in deaths; the Americas reported a 7% case decrease but a 3% death drop; the African Region experienced a 23% case decrease and a 53% death reduction; the Eastern Mediterranean saw a 1% case increase and a 31% death rise; and the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions showed slight case increases with stable or decreased deaths.

Hospitalization data are limited and preliminary, with some countries reporting increases, but overall, ICU admissions are sparse and not widely reported.

The Monthly Operational Update highlights WHO activities such as deploying medical personnel, managing infodemics, and responding to other health emergencies like mpox and cholera.

Data interpretation should consider testing strategy changes, reporting delays, and varying surveillance quality across countries, which may underestimate true cases.

Key Appendices detail variant classification criteria and a rapid risk assessment for XBB.1.5, noting low confidence in some findings due to limited data.