Europe: The European Region is facing three times of the new cases of the COVID-19 infection over the previous six weeks, with close to three million new cases recorded in the previous week, accounting for nearly half of all the new cases in the entire world.
The Regional Director of the World Health Organization, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, mentioned in the statement on Tuesday that while people that has been admitted in the hospital because of the COVID has reported as two times more in the same period, the admissions have so far remained relatively low.
Meanwhile, as infection rated in the older groups continue to increase, Europe is still looking close to 3,000 individuals has died of COVID-19 in every week.
“It’s now abundantly clear we are in a same situation to previous summer – only this time the inprogress COVID-19 wave is being propelled by sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, notably BA.2 as well as BA.5, with each dominant sub-lineage of Omicron showing clear transmission advantages over the previously circulating viruses,” he highlighted in the statement.
Moreover, the situation is likely to become more destructive in the autumn as well as winter months as schools re-open, individuals return from holidays, and social mixing moves indoors with the onset of colder weather. To help prepare for the forthcoming waves of infection, WHO/ Europe released its autumn/winter strategy for COVID-19 other respiratory viruses. “Waiting for the autumn to react will be too late.”
The strategy asks nation to re-launch previous mitigation efforts and e ready to respond to an increased burden on their health care systems. The consistent application of the next five pandemic stabilisers will continue to be critical to protect individuals this autumn & winter.
- Spiking vaccine uptake in the general people,
- Administering a second booster jab to immunocompromised people aged 5 & above as well as their close contacts, along with considering offer to a second booster to specific at-risk groups, at least three(3) months after their last dose,
- Promoting mask-wearing indoors & on public transportation,
Ventilating crowded as well as public spaces (such as schools, offices, and public transport), and - Applying rigorous therapeutic protocols for those at risk of severe disease.
