The fourth wave of the pandemic spreads across Europe

Central and Southeastern Europe have become the new outbreaks of the pandemic of the coronavirus in Europe, with a virulent fourth wave which, prompted by low vaccination rates, has raised infection and mortality rates to absolute maximums.

Experts attribute the seriousness of the situation to the arrival of cold and the expansion of the delta variant SARS-CoV-2 – more contagious than previous strains – in poorly immunized populations.

The most recent data from the Our World in Data platform reveals a clear correlation between the low vaccination rates and the high mortality rates in the region, especially in the southeastern part of Europe.

The health authorities of the hardest hit countries have adopted new restrictions, especially for the non-immunized, to promote vaccination.

On Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union (EU), is at the bottom of immunization, with only 22.5% of the population fully immunized, and at the top in the mortality rate, with a daily average of almost 23 deaths per million inhabitants.

The Bulgarian government today reported a new record of daily deaths from covid, with 334 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Although Romania the number of infections has fallen by 50% in recent days, to about 10,000 daily cases, the situation is critical with more than 300 deaths a day and about 19,000 hospitalized, 10% of which are in ICUs.

Less than a third of the Romanian population has received the full course of a vaccine, making Romania the second least vaccinated country in the EU, only ahead of Bulgaria.

On Serbia, which is not a member of the EU, daily deaths have also increased in recent weeks, reaching a new high last Sunday, with 69 deaths.

One of the problems in this country is that the percentage of immunized young people, between 18 and 30 years old, does not exceed 25%.

Also in Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary, with immunization rates between 44 and 58%, hospitals are reaching out again with covid patients.

Germany overcomes the contagion barrier

For their part, the German authorities confirmed this Tuesday a new record for the accumulated weekly incidence of covid-19, after surpassing the barrier of 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the first time on Monday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government body in charge of infectious disease control, has indicated on its website that the figure has risen to 213.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, above the 201.1 cases reported on Monday .

The agency has pointed out in its update that during the last 24 hours, 21,832 cases and 169 deaths have been detected, which places the totals at 4,804,378 and 96,727, respectively, since the start of the pandemic.

Germany confirmed on Friday for the first time more than 37,000 infections a day since the start of the pandemic, in the framework of a rebound that has set off alarms.

Maximum deaths in Russia

Meanwhile, Russia has registered 1,211 deaths from covid-19 today, a new daily maximum since the outbreak of the pandemic, while the authorities maintain that in the last week the epidemic situation in the country has experienced a slight improvement.

The new record of deaths comes around the seven non-working days decreed across the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to cut the chain of infections.

For three weeks the fourth wave of the pandemic has claimed more than a thousand lives daily in Russia, being today the country that registers the most deaths in a single day.

It is also the first country in the world with the most daily cases of covid-19. In the last 24 hours, the country reported 39,160 infections in its 85 regions.