Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 18 May 2022

Globally, after the continued decline observed since the end of March 2022, new weekly COVID-19 cases have stabilized during the reporting period (9 May to 15 May 2022), with over 3.6 million cases reported, a 1% increase as compared to the previous week. The number of new weekly deaths continues to decline, with over 9000 new deaths reported during the same period, representing a 21% decrease as compared to the previous week.

As of 15 May 2022, over 518 million confirmed cases and over six million deaths have been reported globally.

In this edition, we provide an update on:

• the geographic distribution of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), including the prevalence. 
• a special focus on environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 to complement public health surveillance.