US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — The number of people infected with coronavirus in Europe has doubled over the past week, and along with North America, it has become the epicenter of the pandemic.
This was stated at a briefing in Copenhagen on Thursday by the Director of the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO) Hans Kluge. The briefing was broadcast on Facebook.
“Since the previous briefing a week ago, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases in the region has doubled to 464,859. Europe, together with North America, is now the epicenter of the pandemic.”
The head of the regional office drew attention to the continued widespread spread of coronavirus, especially in western Europe. Italy and Spain surpassed China in terms of the number of cases, while France and Germany also registered a “significant number” of infected people, he said.
According to Kluge, despite the large amount of information about coronavirus, the member countries of the organization had nowhere to get information about “what the health systems really do and how much it works.”
The WHO European Bureau is currently accumulating pandemic data and sharing it with governments through a specially designed information platform, he said.
Kluge noted that in 10% of cases, patients require intensive care. He recalled that in Europe the number of deaths has already exceeded 30 thousand. At the same time, 90% of deaths occur in countries most affected by the pandemic – Italy, Spain and France. More than 50% of the deceased are people aged 80 years or older.
The director of the regional bureau called on Europeans for solidarity between representatives of “all age groups”, emphasizing that special attention should be paid to single older people and those who have chronic diseases. In addition, governments should focus on protecting the health of medical and social workers.
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