The spread of coronavirus infection is increasing in most European countries, and this trend will continue in the coming weeks.
According to Report, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in his interview with TASS.
"Unfortunately, the spread of infection is increasing in most countries of the European region, which leads to an increase in the daily number of cases and deaths. And we think that the trend for the next four weeks is the growth of these indicators. But it is possible to change this if the vaccination is carried out faster if people use more protective masks, " he said.
Notably, the third wave of the new type of coronavirus pandemic has already arrived in Europe and is developing at different rates in the EU countries. According to Kluge, to cope with the spring wave, it is necessary to speed up vaccination.
"We have wonderful data from Israel. Of course, they are preliminary, but we see that when 60% of the population is vaccinated, all indicators have started to improve: fewer infections, hospitalizations, and fewer deaths. It is excellent news, and we see the same preliminary data from the UK. The message here is: vaccines work, and vaccines save lives, " he commented.
Meanwhile, the director of the bureau does not undertake to predict the end of the pandemic. "I'm both an optimist and a realist. I don't see a pessimistic scenario," Kluge said. - But it worth noting that there is also no 100% optimistic scenario. Because the optimistic scenario is the end of the epidemic, and whether the future is near or still far away, we do not know."