On Oct. 25, 2022, the University of Washington reported that daily global COVID-19 infections were projected to rise slowly to about 18.7 million by February from the current 16.7 million aveage daily cases, driven by the northern hemisphere’s winter months.

Far fewer infections are expected than last winter’s estimated peak daily average of about 80 million cases in January of 2022 that was driven by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, according to the report.