Filenews 4 March 2021
The number of new Cases of Covid-19 is rising again in Europe, after six weeks of decline, the regional head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced today.
"Last week, new cases of Covid-19 in Europe increased by 9% to reach just over one million. This puts an end to a promising six-week reduction in new cases, with over half of our region recording an increasing number of new cases," Hans Kluge, WHO head for Europe, told a news conference.
"The ongoing pressures on our hospitals and our health workers are being met with acts of medical solidarity between European neighbours. But more than a year after the pandemic began, our health systems should not be in this situation," Kluge told reporters.
For the United Nations official, Europeans must "get back to basics" to fight the virus and its variant strains, using the tools available and accelerating vaccinations.
"We need to expand our vaccine portfolio," he said. Of the total 53 countries belonging to this WHO regional arm, 45 have launched their vaccination campaign.
According to official data collected by the French Agency, in the European Union 2.6% of the population has received two doses of a vaccine against Covid-19 and 5.4% have received at least one.
Kluge also said countries should not conclud bilateral agreements that undermine the global covax vaccine procurement mechanism, but also have a responsibility to quickly vaccinate frontline workers.
In recent days, some European countries have been trying to obtain vaccines from Russia or China that have not yet been approved by the European Union and to bypass the common European approach to the supply of vaccines.
The WHO-backed COVAX mechanism, aimed at emerging countries, is "the only global mechanism for equal access to vaccines," Kluge told reporters. "What we would obviously like to avoid is that any bilateral agreements will hit or become an obstacle for COVAX, which is just starting distributions around the world."
But international solidarity does not conflict with national responsibility, Kluge added, noting that vaccination of frontline workers is necessary.
Source: iefimerida.gr
