ABVC MMWR Infectious and Emerging Diseases - 30 December 2023

• Based on ABVC weekly monitoring, we found that there is an increase of COVID-19 cases in the last three months of 2023 among ASEAN Member States started from October 2023 such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, and Thailand. 

• Some of ASEAN Member states hospitalized patients has increased. However, COVID-19 deaths remain stable. 

• In average, AMS has COVID-19 vaccination coverage above 71% for full dose and 48.90% for booster. 

• In ASEAN region, COVID-19 variants dominated by Omicron B.1.1.529, EG.5, HK.3, and JN.1. 

• Per November 2023, JN.1 and JN.1.1 which is descendand lineage of BA.2.86 have been found in several ASEAN Member States (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore). 

• As of 18 December 2023, JN.1, a sub-lineage of BA.2.86 Omicron variant has been designated a separate variant of interest (VOI) apart from its parent lineage BA.2.86 due to its rapid increase in prevalence in recent weeks. Globally, EG.5 remains to be the most reported VOI.