WHO Europe expects an increased number of coronavirus cases in the summer

The World Health Organization said today it expects “high levels” of Covid-19 cases this summer in Europe and urged its members to monitor the situation closely after infections tripled in the past month.

“As countries across Europe ease social distancing measures, the virus will circulate at high levels in the summer,” said WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge.

“The virus will not disappear simply because countries have stopped monitoring it. It continues to infect, it continues to mutate and it continues to kill,” he stressed in a written statement to AFP.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the 50 countries of the WHO Europe zone this week approached 500,000 daily, up from around 150,000 at the end of May, according to data collected by the Organization. The number of dead, which reached 4-5,000 per day in the winter, remains at low levels, around 500, which is roughly the level it was in the summer of 2020.

Almost all European countries are recording increased cases, such as Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Cyprus, Germany and Austria.

“We hope that the important vaccination programs implemented by most member countries, as well as previous infections, will allow us to avoid the worst consequences, such as those we saw at the beginning of the pandemic. In the meantime, our recommendations remain in place,” he added. Kluge.

The WHO is asking Europeans to remain in isolation if they have respiratory symptoms, to update their vaccinations and to wear a mask in crowded places. “We have to keep tracking the virus, because if we don’t we’ll be blind to how it’s transmitted and how it’s evolving,” Kluge emphasized. “High population immunity and choices made to reduce risk for the elderly remain the keys” to not increasing mortality in the summer months, he added.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ