Risk assessment of global COVID-19 pandemic in April 2023

  Objective   To assess the global epidemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in April 2023 and the risk of importation.

  Methods   According to the daily COVID-19 data publicly released by World Health Organization, combined with the travel restrictions published by Sherpa, 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 travel requirements in 14 neighbouring countries.

  Results   Compared with the previous month, the number of confirmed cases and deaths globally decreased by 21.17% and 19.19% respectively in April 2023. Daily new confirmed cases and deaths showed a decreasing trend in all continents in April. South Korea, India, Australia, and Singapore were countries with global concern, the new cases of which increased significantly this month compared with the last month. Peru in South America, Mauritius and Morocco in Africa also showed a rapid rise in the number of new cases in April. Special concern should be paid to India among the 14 land-boarding countries, whose cases rose in April and there were no international travel restriction related to COVID-19.

  Conclusion   The global daily new confirmed cases and deaths showed a downward trend in April. It is necessary to continuously monitor countries with global concern and establish a communication mechanism with relevant agencies to exchange information and provide timely warnings.