Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 25 May 2023

Globally, nearly 2.3 million new cases and nearly 15 000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days (24 April to 21 May 2023), a decrease of 21% and 17%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (27 March to 23 April 2023). The situation is mixed at the regional level, with increases in reported cases seen in the WHO African and Western Pacific Regions and increases in deaths in the African, the Americas, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific Regions. As of 21 May 2023, over 766 million confirmed cases and over 6.9 million deaths have been reported globally.

In this edition, we include:

• The COVID-19 epidemiological update at the global and the regional levels
• An update on hospitalizations and ICU admissions
• An update on the SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest (VOI) and variants under monitoring (VUM)