UN agency’s regional data show only Europe with an increase in coronavirus cases in the week that ended October 2 as infections rose 8 percent from the week before.A new wave of COVID-19 cases appears to be spreading in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) say.
WHO’s regional data showed that only Europe recorded a rise in COVID-19 cases in the week that ended October 2, clocking an increase of 8 percent from the week before.
“Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over,” the WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, and the ECDC’s director, Andrea Ammon, said in a joint statement on Wednesday
“We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun,” they said.
The co-circulation of #COVID19 and seasonal influenza could put the most vulnerable and our healthcare systems at risk this winter.
Together with @ECDC_EU and @WHO_Europe, we encourage everyone to come forward for vaccination against both viruses.
➡️Vaccination saves lives. https://t.co/5rIcYrsVxh
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) October 12, 2022
The WHO and ECDC noted that millions of people across Europe have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19. They urged European countries to administer both flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of an expected surge in cases of seasonal influenza.
“The potential co-circulation of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza will put vulnerable people at increased risk of severe illness and death, with the likelihood of increased pressure on both hospitals and healthcare workers, already exhausted from almost three years on the front lines of the pandemic,” they said.
“There was no time to lose,” they said, adding that vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, people over 60 and those …