The World Health Organization's Weekly Epidemiological Update on Friday unveiled that within the last 28 days spanning from July 10 to August 6, 2023, almost 1.5 million fresh cases of COVID-19 and over 2500 fatalities were documented.

The report indicated an 80% surge in cases and a 57% decrease in deaths compared to the preceding 28 days. The data revealed that while five WHO regions noted declines in both case numbers and fatalities, the Western Pacific Region observed a rise in cases and a decline in deaths.

As of August 6, 2023, global figures indicate more than 769 million confirmed cases and over 6.9 million deaths. However, the report cautioned that the current reported cases might not accurately reflect infection rates due to reduced testing and reporting on a global scale. During this 28-day period, 44% of countries (103 out of 234) reported at least one case to the WHO, marking a diminishing proportion since mid-2022.

The Weekly COVID-19 epidemiological update, covering global and regional aspects, also delved into updates on hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and information about SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest (VOI) and variants under monitoring (VUM).