Weekly epidemiological update - 9 February 2021

Over 3.1 million new cases we reported last week, a 17% decline compared to the previous week. Although there are still many countries with increasing numbers of cases, at the global level, this trend is encouraging. The number of new deaths reported also fell for a second week in a row, with 88 000 new deaths reported last week, a 10% decline as compared to the previous week. This brings the global cumulative numbers to 105.4 million cases and 2.3 million cases since the start of the pandemic. In this edition of the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, special focus updates are provided on: How COVAX is distributing the first COVID-19 vaccines to prioritized countries in all six WHO regions, as well as on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.