WHO: Europe risks half million more Covid deaths by Feb. at current rate
Madrid Desk, Nov 10 (EFE).- Another half a million people could die from Covid-19 in Europe and Central Asia by next February if current rates are not brought under control, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday as the region continued to buck global trends.
Hans Kluge, the director of the WHO’s Europe office, which has scope over nations in Europe, including Russia, and Central Asia said the region had witnessed a 7% uptick in infections and 10% in deaths over the last week compared to a global increase of 1% in infections and -4% in deaths.
The stark warning came as Germany registered a new daily record of Covid-19 infections for the third time in a week amid a fourth wave of coronavirus. A total of 39,676 cases and 236 deaths were registered across the country in the last 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute of virology.
The latest data puts the percentage of fully vaccinated citizens at 67.2% of the population.
“In a fourth wave like this one, vaccination makes the difference,” acting health minister Jens Spahn warned Wednesday.
“We continue to experience, at least in the ICUs, a pandemic of the unvaccinated, which puts pressure on the system again, because the number of unvaccinated people is so great.”
Infection records are also falling like dominos in neighboring Austria, where health authorities on Wednesday logged 11,398 new cases.
Data published by health authorities Wednesday suggests the coronavirus is spreading at its fastest rate since the first outbreak in March 2020.
Austria has a relatively low vaccination rate with 63.5 % adults fully immunized. In a bid to increase vaccine take-up the government has introduced restrictions whereby people who have not been fully vaccinated cannot access restaurants, hotels or beauty salons.
Russia has been in the spotlight for its soaring daily Covid-19 deaths. Health authorities on Wednesday registered a new record of 1,239 in 24 hours, while there were 34,656 new infections.
