The coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to spread at the regional and global levels. As of 5 December 2020, the global cumulative incidence reached 65 257 767 reported cases and 1 513 179 associated deaths with a case fatality ratio (CFR) of 2.3%. Meanwhile, the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) have reported a total of 4 277 434 cases, which represent about 6.5% of the global count, with 102 160 associated deaths (CFR 2.5%). Most countries in the Region are in the community transmission phase.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, the country that has reported the highest number of total cases in the Region is Islamic Republic of Iran (1 003 494 cases; 24.1% of the Region’s total), followed by Iraq (562 520; 13.1%) and Pakistan (413 191; 9.7%). Islamic Republic of Iran also reported the highest number of total associated deaths (50 016; CFR 4.9%) followed by Iraq (12 411; CFR 2.2%) and Pakistan (8303; CFR 2%). The highest CFRs were reported by Yemen (29.2%) followed by Sudan (6.7%), while the lowest CFRs were reported by Qatar (0.2%) followed by United Arab Emirates (0.3%) and Bahrain (0.4%).
During epidemiological week 49, the Region reported a 4% decrease in cases when compared to the previous week (240 074 cases compared to 249 698 cases). Similarly, a 15% decrease was observed for associated deaths (5008 deaths compared to 5786 deaths). The weekly trend per capita showed a slight increase as compared to the previous week (587.3/100 000 compared to 585.3/100 000).
Occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Jordan and Islamic Republic of Iran reported a relative increase in COVID-19 activity. The cumulative number of cases in oPt increased from 94 861 to 109 702 (16% increase), Jordan from 210 709 to 237 513 (13% increase) and Islamic Republic of Iran from 935 799 to 1 028 986 (10% increase). Jordan and oPt had the largest relative increase in deaths (14%).
In terms of testing, a total of 59 460 245 laboratory PCR tests were conducted since the start of the outbreak across the Region including 2 589 915 tests in week 49, which shows a 1% decrease compared to the previous week (2 628 845). The highest number of PCR tests were reported from United Arab Emirates (17.3 million), followed by Saudi Arabia (9.8 million) and Islamic Republic of Iran (6.3 million). The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are performing the highest rate of testing per capita (175 155/100 000 and 123 374/100 000, respectively). The average positivity rate for the Region is 7.1%. WHO recommends a positivity rate of around 3–12% as a general benchmark indicating adequate testing, which was achieved in most countries of the Region.
Supporting countries in the Region
The regional incident management support team continues to coordinate the response and provide technical support to countries and partners in the Region in the areas of coordination and partnership, surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical management, infection prevention and control, risk communication and community engagement, points of entry according to the International Health Regulations (2005), research, health systems, and essential health services among others. Activities this week included:
finalizing the regional ACT-Accelerator preparedness activities workplan to support the optimized introduction and use of antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests in EMR;
urgent deployment to support national public health laboratory (NPHL) in Sudan and infection prevention and control (IPC) in Pakistan;
holding training workshop on risk-benefit analysis to maintain essential services versus risk of COVID-19 infection for reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), with 35 participants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan; and
organizing training series on policy dialogue for sexual and reproductive health and rights, with 24 participants from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia.
For more data from the Region, please visit the COVID-19 dashboard.
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