Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 21 December 2021

During the week 13-19 December, the global number of new cases remained similar to those reported during the previous week; however, the weekly incidence of deaths decreased by 9%. Nonetheless, this corresponds to over 4.1 million new cases and just under 45 000 new deaths. As of 19 December, over 273 million cases and over 5.3 million deaths have been reported globally.

In this edition an update is also provided on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs).