MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

WHO foresees challenging European winter as COVID-19 cases surge

“Waiting to act in the fall will be too late,” Kluge warned

According to a statement released Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO), Europe shall be facing a challenging winter by the end of 2022 due to the rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases.

In a note signed by WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri P. Kluge, the global agency urged countries to address the situation to avoid the collapse of local health systems and the ensuing fatalities.

Last year WHO/Europe had warned of a new wave of COVID-19 sweeping the region, driven by the Delta variant, as restrictions were being lifted.

”It is now very clear that we are in a similar situation to last summer, only this time the ongoing Covid-19 wave is being driven by sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, in particular BA.2 and BA.5, (...) which shows clear transmission advantages over the previously circulating viruses,“ Kluge underlined.

”With the increase in cases, we are also seeing an increase in hospitalizations, which will increase even more in the fall and (northern) winter months as schools reopen,“ he went on.

Healthcare facilities ”are already under severe pressure having faced unrelenting crises since 2020,“ Kluge acknowledged.

According to WHO/Europe data, cases in the region have tripled in the last six weeks, with nearly 3 million infections in the last week, representing almost half of all new cases worldwide. While hospitalization rates for Covid-19 have doubled over the same period, admissions to intensive care units have so far remained relatively low.

However, as infection rates continue to rise in older age groups, ”Europe continues to have about 3,000 Covid-19 deaths each week,“ the statement also pointed out.

In this scenario, the agency urged authorities to re-launch mitigation efforts and ”be prepared to respond to an increased burden on their health care systems“ and ”address gaps in pandemic monitoring and response to avoid preventable deaths.“

”Waiting to act in the fall will be too late,” the expert added.