While the seventh wave of Covid-19 is running out of steam in France, the epidemic is still threatening in Europe.
“Covid-19 remains a nasty, potentially fatal disease,” said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge, confiding that he had contracted it himself for the first time two weeks earlier and that this one had it. knocked down for three days.
The organization warned on Tuesday of a "difficult" autumn and winter due to the rise in Covid-19 cases amid slackness among member states.
In a statement, Hans Kluge called the current situation “similar to last summer” but, he said, “this time around the wave of Covid-19 is being driven by undercurrents. lines of the Omicron variant”, more contagious.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the 53 countries that the organization covers (including several in Central Asia) has tripled in the past six weeks, “approaching three million cases recorded last week”, representing almost the half of the global total, he said.
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Over the same period, the number of hospitalizations has doubled and, although the number of intensive care admissions remains "relatively low", nearly 3,000 people still die of Covid-19 in Europe each week, it said. he adds.
According to the organization, the increase in the number of Covid cases is expected to continue in the coming months due to the end of summer holidays, the reopening of schools and social interactions occurring more in closed places in as temperatures drop.
A strategy for fall and winter
Also according to Hans Kluge, States must “respond urgently” to the gaps in the surveillance of the pandemic and act now to avoid preventable deaths as well as serious disruptions in health systems.
WHO Europe then unveiled a strategy for autumn and winter.
This involves increasing the vaccination of populations, a second booster dose for immunocompromised people over the age of five and their close relatives and a reflection on the advisability of offering such a measure to groups at risk. specific "at least three months after their last injection".
The organization also invites to encourage the wearing of masks indoors and on public transport, to ventilate busy public spaces such as schools and offices as well as “apply a rigorous protocol for those at risk of serious illness” .
