The World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Thursday it expected “high levels” of Covid-19 in Europe this summer and called for close monitoring of the virus after daily cases had tripled for a month. “As countries across Europe have lifted existing social measures, the virus will circulate at high levels throughout the summer,” said the organization’s Europe director, UN, Hans Kluge.
The death toll is currently at a low level
“The virus will not go away just because countries stop monitoring it. It keeps contaminating, it keeps changing and it still kills,” he said in a written statement to AFP. Driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, the number of cases in the fifty or so countries in WHO zone Europe approached 500,000 daily this week, while hovering around 150,000 daily at the end of May, according to public data from the organization.
After around 4,000 to 5,000 deaths per day for a good part of the winter, the number of deaths currently remains at a low level of around 500, i.e. at the level of summer 2020. Almost all European countries show increasing case numbers Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Cyprus, Germany and Austria currently lead the highest incidence.
The WHO calls for self-isolation if you have respiratory symptoms
“We hope that the extensive vaccination programs that most member states have in place, as well as previous infections, mean that we avoid the most serious consequences that we have seen earlier in the pandemic,” said Hans Kluge. “Nevertheless, our recommendations stand,” he said.
The WHO is urging Europeans to continue to self-isolate if they have respiratory symptoms, to check their vaccinations are up to date and to wear a mask in crowded places. “We need to keep tracking the virus because if we don’t, we will become increasingly blind to the routes of transmission and (its) development,” said the Director of WHO Europe.
Hans Kluge also called on the member states to further increase their vaccination levels. “High population immunity and risk reduction decisions for older adults will be key to preventing additional mortality this summer,” he said.