Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 8 February 2022

Globally, during the week of 31 January to 6 February 2022, the number of new COVID-19 cases decreased by 17% as compared to the number reported during the previous week, while the number of new deaths increased by 7%. Across the six WHO regions, over 19 million new cases and just under 68 000 new deaths were reported. As of 6 February 2022, over 392 million confirmed cases and over 5.7 million deaths have been reported globally.

In this edition, we provide updates on the geographic distribution of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), including the spread and prevalence of the Omicron variant. We also provide updates on vaccine effectiveness for the Delta and Omicron variants.