Risk assessment of global coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in December 2022

  Objective   To assess the global epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 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 each continent and key countries, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the epidemic and prevention and control policies in 14 neighbouring countries. The assessment results for each country are expressed as “countries of global concern”, “countries of the general concern in each continent” and “neighbouring countries of special concern”.

  Results   Compared with the previous month, the number of confirmed cases and deaths respectively increased by 38.92% and 25.95% globally in February 2022. Daily new confirmed cases and deaths in the Asia continued to rise in December. The time taken for every 50 million new confirmed cases and 50 thousand deaths globally has increased significantly. Japan, Korea, America and France were countries with global concern. Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Mauritius and Australia were the countries of general concern in each continent. Russia was the countrie with special concern among the 14 neighbouring countries.

  Conclusion   The global daily new confirmed cases and deaths showed a downward trend after mid-December, but the epidemic situation was prominent in some regions and countries. It is necessary to continuously monitor countries with global focus and establish a communication mechanism with relevant agencies to exchange information and provide timely warnings.