WHO tilannetiedotus 24.11. 2023 Covid-19 epidemiasta

 Latest WHO official reports for emergency situations. ( Tarkistettu linkki  12.12.2023 keskiyöllä)

 

 https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-epidemiological-update---24-november-2023
SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest and variants under monitoring
Geographic spread and prevalence
Globally, during the 28-day period from 23 October to 19 November 2023, 18 719 SARS-CoV-2 sequences were shared through GISAID. In comparison, in the two previous 28-day periods, there were 67 525 and 84 942 sequences shared, respectively. The data are periodically retrospectively updated to include sequences with earlier collection dates, so the number of submissions in a given time period may change.
WHO is currently tracking several SARS-CoV-2 variants, including:
• Four variants of interest (VOIs): XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, EG.5 and BA.2.86
• Five variants under monitoring (VUMs): DV.7, XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.2.3

 
Table 6 shows the number of countries reporting VOIs and VUMs, and their prevalence from epidemiological week 40 (2 to 8 October 2023) to week 44 (30 October to 5 November 2023). The VOIs and VUMs exhibiting increasing trends are highlighted in yellow, those that have remained stable are highlighted in blue, and those with decreasing trends are highlighted in green.

Globally, all VOIs have been detected in all WHO regions, with EG.5 continuing to be the most prevalent VOI, now reported by 89 countries. EG.5 continues to steadily rise in prevalence, accounting for 51.6% of sequences submitted to GISAID in week 44 in comparison to 47.0% in week 40 (Figure 9, Figure 10 and Table 6). This includes two descendent lineages, HK.3 and HV.1, which have been included under EG.5 since 23 October 2023. The last risk evaluation for EG.5 was published on 21 November 2023, with an overall evaluation of low additional public health risk at the global level based on available evidence. This aligns with the risk associated with the other currently circulating VOIs.
 

As of 20 November 2023, BA.2.86 has been designated as a VOI due to the steady increase in its global prevalence in recent weeks. BA.2.86 accounted for 8.9% of sequences in week 44, an increase from 1.8% in week 40 (Figure 10, Table 6). The initial risk evaluation for BA.2.86 was published on 21 November 2023, with an overall evaluation of low public health risk at the global level based on available evidence.

The other VOIs, XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, have remained stable and decreased in global prevalence, respectively, during the same period: XBB.1.5 accounted for 8.3% of sequences in week 44, similar to its prevalence in week 40 at 8.5%;    XBB.1.16 accounted for 8.2% of sequences in week 44, a decrease from 15.9% in week 40 (Figure 10, Table 6).
Among the VUMs, DV.7 and XBB have shown stable trends in the reporting period, accounting for 1.9% and 2.3%, respectively, of sequences in week 44 (Table 6).  

 

The other VUMs, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.2.3 continue to
decrease in prevalence, accounting for 6.4%, 1.9% and 3.7% of all sequences in week 44, respectively.
Sufficient sequencing data to calculate variant prevalence at the regional level during weeks 40 to 44 were available from three WHO regions: the Region of the Americas, the Western Pacific Region, and the European Region (Table 7). 

 

Among the VOIs, EG.5 was the most prevalent variant, and BA.2.86 showed an increasing trend in all three regions.
XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.6 showed decreasing or stable trends. Amongst the VUMs, all three regions observed decreasing or stable trends for XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.2.3. DV.7 presented an increasing trend in the Region of the
Americas and the Western Pacific region, whereas the European region saw a decreasing trend.
With declining rates of testing and sequencing globally (Figure 10), it is increasingly challenging to estimate the severity impact of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. There are currently no reported laboratory or epidemiological reports indicating any association between VOIs/VUMs and increased disease severity.

  As shown in Figure 9 and
Figure 10, low and unrepresentative levels of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance continue to pose challenges in adequately assessing the variant landscape