[천지일보=이솜 기자] The spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Europe is at its worst in months, raising concerns that it could be engulfed in a new wave of the pandemic this winter.
At a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Hans Kluj, director of the World Health Organization’s European office, said on the 5th that the rate of transmission not only in Central Asia but also throughout Europe is showing great interest in the region, and that the region is becoming the ‘echo of the health crisis’. said.
In Europe alone, there were nearly 1.8 million confirmed cases last week and nearly 24,000 deaths, accounting for 59% and 48% of global cases and deaths, respectively.
Experts cited the increase in the spread of the virus as factors such as increased indoor activity due to cold weather, non-vaccination, and reduced immunity. Studies have shown that the chance of getting a breakthrough infection doubles five months after the second dose of the vaccine. A delta-mutant virus substrain, known to be about 10% more contagious, also had an effect. Last month, 23 European countries re-introduced public health measures, while seven relaxed them.
Germany reported 37,120 new cases today, the largest daily increase since the epidemic began. The current infection rate is 169.9 per 100,000 people for 7 days, the highest level since the third epidemic this spring. The number of COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in German intensive care units is the highest since 5 days.
Germany’s Health Minister Jens Span explained that low vaccination rates were the main reason for the surge in cases. Vaccination rates in Germany lag far behind countries such as Italy, France and Spain.
Antoine Plahol of the Institute for International Health at the University of Geneva, told the Financial Times on Monday that the number of new cases in central and eastern Europe has been skyrocketing devastatingly in recent weeks and that the death rate has been alarming. He assessed that the wave of the pandemic is now spreading from the east of Europe to the west. He also said that although new infections are increasing in countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium, all currently have relatively low mortality and hospitalization rates.
The spread of COVID-19 is particularly noticeable in Central and Eastern Europe, where vaccination levels are lower than in the West.
In Slovakia, where the vaccination rate is 46%, there were 6,713 new cases on the 4th, the highest number since the pandemic began. In Poland, where 53% were vaccinated, the number of new cases surged by almost 50% on the same day, which had already quadrupled in the previous three weeks. The number of hospital admissions has also risen sharply, more than tripled in Poland and more than double in Slovakia over the past three weeks.
In Baltic countries, Latvia and Estonia had the world’s highest number of cases per capita in recent weeks, with Latvia reintroducing at least a month’s lockdown.
Romania, where only a third of the population has been vaccinated, has the world’s highest per capita mortality rate in the past seven days. Bulgaria, which has the lowest vaccination rate among EU countries, broke the daily record of daily COVID-19 deaths this week.
Greece, where intensive care unit utilization rose to 84% from 67% a month ago, is one of the EU countries tightening regulations in response to a surge in new cases. All people who have not been vaccinated will have to test negative to enter indoor public places, including banks, shops and government buildings, starting on the 6th.
The Netherlands announced that it would also reintroduce quarantine regulations after new regulatory measures came out in neighboring Belgium.
In France, despite the high vaccination rate, the number of confirmed cases has been gradually increasing since the beginning of October.
In the UK, the average number of new cases in mid-October was 47,000, but has recently fallen below 40,000. Hospital admissions in the UK remain at around 1,000 per day, with an average of about 150 deaths per day.
Meanwhile, since September, many European countries, such as Germany, France, the UK and Belgium, are providing booster shots (boost shots) to vulnerable, old, and weakened people.
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