Outbreak Brief 71: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic

Outbreak Update: Since the last brief (18 May 2021), 4,087,197 new confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 84,475 new deaths have been reported globally. To date, a total of 166,869,922 COVID-19 cases and 3,460,428 related deaths (case fatality ratio (CFR): 2.1%) have been reported from 225 countries and territories. The distribution of cumulative cases (proportion of global cases) from the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting regions (excluding Africa) are as follows: Eastern Mediterranean Region 8,541,482 (5%), European Region 54,147,639 (32%), Region of the Americas 66,158,798 (40%), South-East Asia Region 30,332,591 (18%) and Western Pacific Region 2,877,254 (2%). Over the last seven days, India reported more than 1,700,000 new cases and the number of new cases being reported by day have been declining since 7 May 2021. During the same period Brazil reported more than 400,000 new cases, Argentina has reported more than 200,000 new cases while the United States and Colombia have each reported more than 100,000 new cases.  For more detailed information on cases and deaths being reported outside of Africa, refer to the WHO COVID-19 dashboard.

As of 9 am East African Time (EAT) 25 May 2021, a total of 4,768,416 COVID-19 cases and 128,718 deaths (CFR: 2.7%) have been reported in 55 African Union (AU) Member States. This represents 3% of all cases reported globally. The 21 AU Member States reporting case fatality ratios higher than the global case fatality ratio of 2.1% are Sudan (7.2%), Sahrawi Republic (6.1%), Egypt (5.8%), Somalia (5.2%), Zimbabwe (4.1%), Liberia (4.0%), Comoros (3.7%), Tunisia (3.6%), Eswatini (3.6%), Mali (3.6%), Niger (3.6%), Chad (3.5%), South Africa (3.4%), Malawi (3.4%), Lesotho (3.0%), Gambia (3.0%), Algeria (2.8%), Senegal (2.8%), Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo (2.5%), Mauritania (2.4%) and Angola (2.2%).