Risk assessment of global COVID-19 pandemic in July 2022

  Objective   To assess the global epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in July 2022 and the risk of importation.

  Methods   According to the daily COVID-19 data publicly released by Johns Hopkins University, combined with the policy stringency index published by the University of Oxford, an epidemiological description method was used to provide a comprehensive and timely assessment of the global epidemic risk through a general overview, a comprehensive assessment of the epidemic trends in WHO regions and key countries, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the epidemic and prevention and control policies in 14 neighboring countries. The assessment results for each country are expressed as “countries of global concern”, “countries of the general concern in each WHO sub-region” and “neighboring countries of special concern”.

  Results  Compared with June 2022, the global monthly new confirmed cases increased by 62.87%, and the global monthly new deaths increased by 28.55%. In July, the Eastern Mediterranean Region had the highest growth rate in both new confirmed cases and new death, at 160% and 112%, respectively. In July, countries of global concern were United States, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Australia, Turkey and Mexico. Guatemala, Peru, Mauritius, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia were countries of the general concern. Russia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Mongolia were neighboring countries of special concern.

  Conclusion  The global daily newly confirmed cases and deaths showed an overall rising trend in July. The epidemic situation in the Western Pacific Region and Eastern Mediterranean are still aggravating, with the number of newly confirmed cases increased significantly, which should be paid special attention to, timely communicate and adjusted measures.