Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 20 April 2021

Globally, new COVID-19 cases rose for the eighth consecutive week, with over 5.2 million new cases reported in the last week. The number of new deaths increased for the fifth consecutive week, increasing by 8% compared to last week, with over 83 000 new deaths reported. While all regions except the European Region reported an increase in incident cases in the last week, the largest increase continues to be reported by the South-East Asia Region, largely driven by India, followed by the Western Pacific Region.

In this edition, special focus updates are provided on:

• WHO COVID-19 global rapid risk assessment
• Pandemic influenza surveillance—drawing a parallel with the COVID-19 pandemic
• SARS-CoV-2 variants