Globally, the number of new cases reported this week remained similar to that of the previous week. With over 4.4 million new cases reported this week (30 August-5 September; Figure 1), the global incidence of COVID-19 cases has remained stable over the past month. In the past week, all regions reported either a decline (Regions of Africa, South-East Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean) or a similar trend in new reported cases, as compared to previous week (Regions of Europe and the Western Pacific); the Region of the Americas reported a 19% increase.

The number of deaths reported globally this week also remained similar to the previous week, with just under 68 000 new deaths reported. The incidence of new deaths declined in all regions apart from the Region of the Americas and Europe where deaths increased by 17% and 20%, respectively. Regionally, the largest proportionate decreases in new deaths this week were observed in the South-East Asia (21% decrease) and African (26% decrease) regions, while the regions of the Western Pacific (8% decrease) and the Eastern Mediterranean (14% decrease) also reported notable declines, as compared to the previous week. The cumulative number of cases reported globally is now just over 220 million and the cumulative number of deaths is over 4.5 million.

The Regions reporting the highest weekly case and deaths incidence rates per 100 000 population remain the same as last week: the Regions of the Americas (172.4 new cases per 100 000 population; 2.5 deaths per 100 000 population) and Europe (122.8 new cases per 100 000 population; 1.6 deaths per 100 000 population).
The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States of America (1 297 399 new cases; 38% increase), India (293 643 new cases; 8% increase), the United Kingdom (243 125 new cases; similar to the previous week), the Islamic Republic of Iran (208 089 new cases; 18% decrease), and Brazil (152 154 new cases; 13% decrease).

Globally, cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in 194 countries (one new country since last week), territories or areas (hereafter countries), while 141 countries (no new countries) have reported cases of the Beta variant; 92 countries (one new country) have reported cases of the Gamma variant; and 174 countries (four new countries) have reported cases of the Delta variant.

Sources:

World Health Organisation (WHO), 07^th September 2021