'Europe Is Back At The Epicentre Of The Covid-19 Pandemic': WHO Europe

WHO Europe has said that around 1.8 million new weekly Covid-19 cases have been reported in the region, with a 6 per cent hike in the cases

WHO Europe director Hans Kluge gives a press conference on the outbreak of Covid-19. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) in a warning tone said that a total of 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia face the “real threat” of a reemergence of the covid-19 pandemic in the upcoming weeks or are already battling a new wave of coronavirus, inflamed by the more transmissible Delta variant of the covid-19 infection.

“We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence. Europe is back at the epicentre of the pandemic, where we were one year ago,” WHO's Europe head Hans Kluge was quoted by HT in its report.

According to the HT report, Kluge further said that the covid-19 cases are beginning to rise near-record level again and the pace with which the infection is transmitting in the region is of "grave concerns." He advised countries spread across Europe to work harder in order to curb the spread of the covid-19 infection.

The health authorities currently are much more aware of the virus and equipped with tools to combat the pandemic, he said.

The latest rise in the spread of the virus is mainly due to the relaxed precautionary measures and low vaccination rates, he adds.

WHO Europe has said that around 1.8 million new weekly Covid-19 cases have been reported in the region, with a 6 per cent hike in the cases compared to the previous week and 24,000 deaths in the same period.

Hospitalisation rates have been more than doubled in the 53-country region since last week due to the covid-19, Kluge said. If the trend continues, Kluge warned that the region could witness another 500,000 pandemic deaths by February 2022.

“We must change our tactics, from reacting to surges of Covid-19, to preventing them from happening in the first place,” Kluge said.