Globally, the number of new Covid cases increased by 52% during the 28-day period of November 20 to December 17, 2023, as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 850,000 new cases recorded, Report informs, citing World Health Organization.
The number of new deaths decreased by 8% as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 3,000 new fatalities reported. As of December 17, 2023, over 772 million confirmed cases and nearly seven million deaths have been reported globally.
During the period from November 13 to December 10, 2023, over 118,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and over 1,600 new intensive care unit (ICU) admissions have been recorded with an overall increase of 23% and 51% respectively amongst the countries reporting consistently within the current and past reporting periods.
As of December 18, 2023, JN.1, a sub-lineage of BA.2.86 Omicron variant has been designated a separate variant of interest (VOI) apart from its parent lineage BA.2.86 due to its rapid increase in prevalence in recent weeks. Globally, EG.5 remains to be the most reported VOI.