WHO warns that ómicron moves to eastern Europe, an area with fewer vaccinated

The omicron variant of COVID-19 is expanding in Europe to the east of the continent, where in the last two weeks the number of new infections has doubled and there is a lower level of vaccination, the European office of the World Organization warned on Tuesday. of Health (WHO).

“In the last two weeks, Covid-19 cases have more than doubled in six countries in this part of the region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine). As anticipated, the omicron wave is moving east: 10 Eastern Member States have already detected this variant.declared the organization’s European director, Hans Kluge.

In a statement presented at a virtual meeting with media from those countries, Kluge recalled that “Vaccination remains our best defense against severe disease and death for all currently circulating COVID-19 virus variants.”

“Yet too many people at higher risk remain unprotected: fewer than 40% of people over 60 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan have completed their COVID-19 vaccination series,” Kluge remembered.

And he added that Bulgaria, Georgia and North Macedonia are also among the countries where less than 40% of health workers have received at least one dose of the vaccine. COVID-19.

“I call on governments, health authorities and relevant partners to closely examine the local reasons influencing lower vaccine demand and uptake, and design tailored interventions to increase vaccination rates urgently, based on context-specific evidence.added the senior official.

Kluge said that in the European region of the who There have been more than 165 million cases of COVID-19 till the date. This is still a deadly disease, 1.8 million people have lost their lives, 25,000 in the last week.

He added that “Health systems are under increasing pressure, especially as cases among health workers are rising, rising from 30,000 at the end of last year to 50,000 a month later.”

And finally warned that “As health needs have increased, the number of staff available to provide care has decreased and the risk of transmission in healthcare settings has increased, further exacerbating the problem.”

Source: EFE

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