By IDSE News Staff
Going into the respiratory season, COVID-19 cases are trending downward throughout the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), although the agency said to view its new situation report cautiously.
Globally, the number of new cases of COVID-19 decreased by 55% during the 28-day period between Aug. 28 and Sept. 24, compared with the previous 28-day period, WHO said. The CDC reported a similar seven-day trend in the United States. After a small increase, the United States is seeing downward trends in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, but an increase in deaths.
The CDC reported that between Sept. 17 and Sept. 23, there were 19,079 people in the United States hospitalized for COVID-19, a 3.1% decrease from the week before. However, deaths increased 8%. As of Sept. 23, more than 6.3 million people have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and more than 1.144 million people died in the United States from COVID-19, which is 2.7% of all the people with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Globally, the WHO said the number of new deaths decreased by 34% compared with the previous 28-day period, with more than 1,900 new fatalities reported. As of Sept. 24, more than 770 million confirmed cases and over 6 million deaths have been reported globally.
“The recent declining trend in the number of new cases reported globally should be interpreted with caution due to decreased testing, sequencing and reporting, alongside reporting delays in many countries,” the WHO said in its latest situation report.
The WHO is currently tracking several SARS-CoV-2 variants, including three variants of interest—XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and EG.5—and seven variants under monitoring.
Globally, EG.5 represents 33.6% of sequences shared with GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, formerly Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) and is presently the most prevalent variant of interest, and has been reported by 73 countries.
