WHO warns of high risk in eastern Europe with the arrival of COVID-19 Omicron variant

“Across the entire WHO European Region, we have now recorded more than 165 million COVID-19 cases to date. This remains a deadly disease, 1.8 million people have lost their lives, 25 000 in the past week. Health systems are being put under increasing strain, not least because cases among health-care workers are escalating – rising from 30 000 at the end of last year, to 50 000 a month later,” Kluge said. “As health needs increase, the number of staff available to deliver care has fallen, and the risk of transmission in health-care settings has risen, further compounding the problem.”

Kluge continued his remarks as follows: “Today, our focus is towards the east of the WHO European Region. Over the past 2 weeks, cases of COVID-19 have more than doubled in 6 countries in this part of the Region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine).”

“As anticipated, the Omicron wave is moving east – 10 eastern Member States have now detected this variant,” he added.

He also called on governments, health authorities, and relevant partners to closely examine the local reasons influencing lower vaccine demand and acceptance and devise tailored interventions to increase vaccination rates urgently, based on the context-specific evidence. (ILKHA)