COVID-19 epidemiological update – 15 July 2024

Overview

SARS-CoV-2 PCR percent positivity during the four-week reporting period from 27 May to 23 June 2024, as detected in integrated sentinel surveillance as part of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and reported to FluNet increased from 5.6 to 7.1% from countries 84. During this period, an average of 16 888 specimens were tested for SARS-CoV-2 each week.

KP.3 and LB.1, both descendent lineages of JN.1 and variants under monitoring (VUMs) showed an increasing prevalence globally.  They accounted for 40.3% and 7.0% % of sequences in week 25 (week ending on 23 June) compared to 24.4% and 5.6% in week 22, respectively. KP.2 accounted for 16.7% of sequences in week 25 compared to 17.5% in week 22. Globally, JN.1 is the most reported variant of interest (VOI) (now reported by 133 countries), accounting for 30.3% of sequences in week 25, having declined from a prevalence of 43.9% in week 22.

Globally, the number of new cases were at stable level during the past 28-day period of 27 May to 23 June 2024 compared to the previous 28-day period (29 April to 26 May 2024), with over one hundred and thirty-five thousand new cases reported. The number of new deaths decreased slightly by 3% compared to the previous 28-day period, with more than 2000 new fatalities reported. As of 23 June 2024, over 775 million confirmed cases and more than seven million deaths have been reported globally since the beginning of pandemic. 

During the same period, 47 and 36 countries provided data at least once on COVID-19 hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU), respectively. From the available data, over 20 000 new hospitalizations and more than 500 new ICU admissions were reported.  Among the countries reporting these data consistently over the current and past reporting period, there was an overall increase of 31% and 12% in new hospitalizations and new ICU admissions, respectively.

WHO published the latest COVID-19 Vaccination Insights Report for quarter one (Jan-Mar) 2024. Globally, 9.8 million individuals received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine across 73 reporting Member States (MS). containing 22% of the global population.  Among older adults, 4.9 million individuals received a dose across the 60 MS reporting on uptake in this group, corresponding to an uptake rate of 0.42% so far this year.  

In this edition, we include: 

• SARS-CoV-2 test positivity trends at the global and regional levels
• The COVID-19 morbidity and mortality update at the global and 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) circulations.