AMN/ WEB DESK
Europe once again finds itself at the center of the Covid-19 pandemic. Case numbers have soared across the continent more than 50 percent last month and the worrying trend has continued this month as winter begins. Dr. Hans Kluge, the director of the World Health Organization’s Europe region, has warned that the region was “back at the epicenter of the pandemic,” and his words proved prescient. The WHO said on Friday that nearly 2 million cases were reported across Europe in the previous week – the most the region has had in a single week since the pandemic began.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, in recent weeks, Germany reported more than 50,000 daily new infections. The Netherlands also reported more than 16,000 cases the country’s most pandemic began. It prompted the government to begin a partial lockdown since Saturday that is set to last at least three weeks.
As case numbers surged toward the end of last month, Belgium reimposed some Covid restrictions, including a requirement to wear masks in public places. The country nonetheless recorded more than 15,000 daily cases since last week.
Despite the surge, daily death rates in all three countries have remained relatively stable compared with past spikes, and experts have credited high vaccine uptake for weakening the link between the numbers of cases and hospitalizations and deaths.