Today, every single country in Europe and central Asia is facing a real threat of COVID-19 resurgence, or already fighting it. The current pace of transmission across the 53 countries of the WHO European Region is of grave concern. COVID-19 cases are once again approaching record levels, with the more transmissible Delta variant continuing to dominate transmission across Europe and central Asia, WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge's statement published on the official WHO website reads.
Last week, with nearly 1.8 million new cases and 24 000 new deaths reported, Europe and central Asia saw a 6% increase and 12% increase, respectively, compared to the previous week. Over the past 4 weeks, Europe has seen a greater than 55% increase in new COVID-19 cases, Kluge says.
We see increasing trends across all age groups. Of most concern is the rapid increase in the older population groups since week 38, which is translating into more people with severe disease and more people dying. Currently, 75% of fatal cases are in people aged 65 years and above, the statement continues.
