During the week 20-26 December, following a gradual increase since October, the global number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 11% as compared to the previous week; while the number of new deaths remained similar to numbers reported during the previous week. This corresponds to just under 5 million new cases and over 44 000 new deaths. As of 26 December, over 278 million cases and just under 5.4 million deaths have been reported globally.
