It urges European citizens to abide by its recommendations.
THE World Health Organisation reported today that expects “high levels” of cases of Covid-19 this year summer in Europe and called on its members to monitor the situation closely, as infections have tripled in the past month.
“As countries across Europe have been socially distancing, the virus will be circulating at high levels in the summer”said the WHO Director for Europe, Hans Kluge.
“The virus will not go away simply because countries have stopped monitoring it. It continues to infect, it continues to mutate and it still kills. “he underlined, in a written statement to the French Agency.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the 50 countries of its zone WHERE Europe approached 500,000 daily this week, while it was around 150,000 at the end of May, according to data collected by the Agency. The death toll, which reached 4-5,000 a day in winter, remains low, around 500, about the same level it was in the summer of 2020.
Almost all European countries report increased cases, such as Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Cyprus, Germany and Austria.
“We hope that the important vaccination programs implemented by most member countries, as well as previous infections, will allow us to avoid the worst consequences, such as those we observed at the beginning of the pandemic. In the meantime, our recommendations remain in force “Kluge added.
The WHO is urging Europeans to stay in isolation if they have respiratory symptoms, update their vaccines and wear a mask in crowded places. “We have to keep track of the virus, because if we do not, we will be blind to how it is transmitted and how it develops,” Kluge said. “High population immunity and choices made to reduce the risk to the elderly remain the key” so as not to increase mortality in the summer months, he added.
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