Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 2 November 2021

Overview

During the week 25 to 31 October 2021, a slight upward trend in new weekly cases was observed, with just over 3 million new cases reported. Apart from the European Region, which reported a 6% increase in new weekly cases as compared to the previous week, other regions reported declines or stable trends. New weekly deaths increased by 8% as compared with the previous week, with over 50 000 new fatalities. Cumulatively, over 246 million confirmed cases and nearly 5 million deaths have been reported.

In this edition, we provide updates on the geographic distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOCs), and summarise their phenotypic characteristics (transmissibility, disease severity, risk of reinfection, and impacts on diagnostics and vaccine performance) based on published studies.