The World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said in an online briefing that the number of new COVID-19 cases in the European region is increasing and that the coming weeks will be critical for European countries.
“The number of new cases continues to grow in Europe. In recent weeks the number of new cases in Europe has almost doubled, approaching one million. This means that almost 50% of all cases in the world are in Europe”, – Kluge said.
He explained that in the 10 countries of the region that were most affected by the virus, there have been positive developments in recent weeks and a decrease in the number of cases in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
“But small positive signals in some countries are undermined by negative signals from other countries, including the UK, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The next few weeks will be critical for Europe”, – Kluge is confident.
On 11 March, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19 a pandemic. According to the latest WHO data, more than 1.9 million cases of infection have been recorded in the world, more than 123 thousand people died.
Earlier, Radio Sputnik reported that health professionals in Europe had traced COVID-19 to smallpox.