COVID-19 Trends Decrease But Also Increase

Th World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that while the COVID-19 pandemic is diminishing in some countries, in other parts of the world, new cases and related fatalities increased last month.

Published on April 20, 2023, the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update Edition #139 on COVID-19 reported new cases, and deaths decreased by 27% and 32%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days.

Unfortunately, the United States of America (USA) is a leader in both categories.

This is partly due to the reductions in testing and delays in reporting in many countries, wrote the WHO.

At the country level, the highest numbers of new 28-day cases were reported from the USA (432,798 new cases; -45%), the Republic of Korea (+6%), France (+65%), and Brazil (+35%).

The highest numbers of new 28-day deaths were reported from the USA (5,559 new deaths; -32%), Brazil (-26%), Germany (-58%), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (+193%).

From a vaccination perspective, fewer COVID-19 vaccines were administered last month.

However, India began reordering various non-mRNA vaccines in April 2023.

And in the USA, the government expanded access to bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines on April 18, 2023,

As of April 16, 2023, a total of 13,322,849,443 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally during the pandemic.