The regions of 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia are at risk of another wave of the corona virus or are already facing a new wave of epidemics.
Giving this information on Thursday, Dr Hans Kluge, the head of the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the number of cases has started rising again to near record levels and the speed of spread in the region is a matter of ‘grave concern’.
“We stand at a critical juncture in the outbreak of the pandemic,” he told reporters at the organization’s Europe headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. “Europe is again at the epicenter of the pandemic where we were a year ago,” he said. Dr Klej said the difference is that health officials know more about the virus and have better tools to combat it.
He said measures to contain the spread of the virus and low vaccination rates in some areas explain why cases are increasing. Dr Klej said that in the last one week, the rate of hospitalization of people due to Kovid has more than doubled in the region of 53 countries.
He said that if this situation continues, five lakh more people may die in the region by February due to the pandemic. The organization’s Europe office said the region had nearly 1.8 million weekly cases, a six percent increase from the previous week, while weekly deaths were 24,000, a 12 percent increase.
