In recent months the rate of vaccination has decreased throughout the continent.
Europe is once again “the epicenter” of the covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday after observing a steady increase in cases across the continent.
At a press conference, the WHO Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, affirmed that the region could register half a million more deaths in the next three months.
The representative of the organization said that the low acceptance of vaccines has contributed to the increase in cases.
“In the first place, we must change our tactics and go from reacting to the waves of covid-19 to preventing them from occurring,” he urged.
Low levels of vaccination and relaxation of measures
The truth is that in recent months the rate of vaccination has decreased throughout the continent. On Spain, 80% of people are fully vaccinated -with two doses-, while in France and Germany, the inoculation reaches 68 and 66% of the population, respectively.
The situation is getting worse in some Central and Eastern European countries, such as Russia, where only 32% of people were vaccinated at the end of last month.
Kluge also considered that the relaxation of measures Public health has contributed to the rise in infections in the WHO European region, which encompasses 53 countries including parts of Central Asia.
So far, WHO has recorded 1.4 million deaths throughout the area.
For her part, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for covid-19, stated that in the last four weeks cases in Europe have soared by more than 55% despite the “wide supply of vaccines and the supply of tools ”to avoid it.
In turn, Dr. Mike Ryan affirmed that what happens in Europe is a “warning shot to the world ”.
GermanyFor example, it registered almost 34,000 cases in the last 24 hours, a record number of infections.
Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute in Germany (IRK) – responsible for disease control and prevention – predicted a “terrifying” result.
“If we do not take action now to counter it, this fourth wave will bring even more suffering,” he warned.
Among the many Germans who have not been vaccinated are more than three million of people over 60 years of age, considered at special risk.
But, as the WHO representative pointed out, the increase in cases is not limited to Germany.
United Kingdom, Russia, Romania …
On United Kingdom, which exceeds 37.000 daily cases, concern is focused on the possible effects of the fourth wave of infections: a large number of deaths and saturation of the health system.
Some of those numbers are already worrying, because in the last day 165 deaths were reported compared to 126 a week ago.
The most dramatic increases in fatalities have occurred in the past week in Russia, where more than 8.100 deaths, and in Ukraine, that it got 3.800 deaths and a record of 27,377 new cases in the last 24 hours. Both countries have very low vaccination rates.
On Romania This week the highest number of deaths in 24 hours was registered, with 591, while in Hungary daily infections by covid doubled in the last week to reach 6,268. In that country, the use of a mask is only mandatory in public transport and in hospitals.
“At this moment it seems that we are bent on believe the pandemic is overand that we only have to vaccinate a few more people. That is not the case, ”said Dr. Ryan, who urged countries to reverse the holes left by their response to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Dutch government said this week that it will reimpose the use of masks and the social distancing in many public settings after a 31% increase in hospital admissions was reported in seven days.
LatviaFor its part, it imposed a three-month state of emergency starting Monday amid a record level of covid infections.
Croatia, for his part, he registered on Thursday 6.310 new cases, its highest number so far, while Slovakia reported its second highest number of cases. In addition, Czech infections have returned to the levels recorded since the boreal spring.
Thinking that the pandemic is over is a mistake made by many people, as acknowledged by Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy medical director of the government of England.
This even if we consider that in the countries with the highest vaccination rates, infection rates are still relatively low.
Italy It is one of them, but new cases there have also increased by 16.6% in the last week.
The contagions in Portugal they have exceeded a thousand for the first time since September. Spain It is one of the few countries that has not seen an increase in transmission, with 2,287 cases reported on Wednesday.
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