Europe Faces ‘Hard Winter’ Due to COVID-19 Rebound, WHO Says

The regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Europe, Hans Kluge, warned this Tuesday that the continent is facing a “harsh winter” due to the rebound in covid-19 and reiterated that the region is at the “epicenter” of the pandemic.

Kluge participated in the opening of the 44th World Hospital Congress in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

In his speech, Kluge stressed that the WHO European region – which includes 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, including Russia and several former Soviet republics – registered some two million new cases last week and accumulates about 1.5 millions of deaths from the virus.

“Our region is the epicenter of the pandemic, with a growth in transmission, hospitalizations and deaths,” he emphasized, after warning that the continent is facing a “harsh winter.”

In this regard, he made a call to intensify vaccination, to the general population but especially among health personnel, to “keep the virus at bay”, and pointed out that in up to seven countries in the region there are less than 20% of health workers with the complete guideline.

“Extensive vaccination and preventive measures are the only way to alleviate the growing pressure in hospitals and health systems,” he stressed.

The WHO director cited some of the “lessons” learned during the pandemic, such as coordination between health and institutional actors, strengthening primary care, modernizing facilities or health care for health workers, as well as increase in numbers or digitization, among others.

Countries in the region are currently particularly affected by covid-19, with an incidence of coronavirus in Germany at its highest level since the pandemic began and in Russia record deaths from the virus with more than 1,200 deaths in the last working day. (I)