Covid-19: Europe could count up to 700,000 additional deaths, warns WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) was alarmed on Tuesday, November 23 of the “grip” of Covid-19 in Europe which could cause 700,000 additional deaths on the continent, where the new health restrictions arouse anger. If the WHO’s grim predictions come true, that would bring the continent’s total pandemic deaths to 2.2 million by spring.

“The Europe Region remains in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last week, reported deaths from Covid-19 rose to nearly 4,200 per day, a doubling from the 2,100 daily deaths recorded in the end of September “, underlined the WHO. “Hospital beds can be expected to be under high or extreme pressure in 25 countries and high or extreme pressure in intensive care units in 49 out of 53 countries by March 1, 2022 “, she warned.

In a shocking formula, the German Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, warned Monday that “almost everyone will be vaccinated, cured or dead” by “probably the end of winter” due to the spread of the Delta variant . Faced with a new outbreak of cases, the German army is preparing to make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for its soldiers. US authorities have advised their nationals to avoid traveling to Germany and Denmark, also hit hard by the new wave of the pandemic.

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For the WHO, the increase in cases in Europe is explained by the combination of the prevalence of the highly contagious Delta variant, insufficient vaccination coverage and the relaxation of anti-Covid measures. “The situation (…) is very serious,” said Tuesday its regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, who called for a “vaccine plus” approach, combining vaccination, wearing a mask, hygiene measures and distancing.

In the European Union, 67.7% of the population has received two doses of the vaccine but the differences are staggering between countries. Thus, only 24.2% of Bulgarians are vaccinated against 86.7% of Portuguese. To preserve mobility within the European area, the Commission is currently working on an “update” of the recommendations and must present its proposals for updating the European certificate in the coming days.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also announced on Tuesday that it would decide within a few weeks on an application for marketing authorization for Merck’s anti-Covid pill, Molnupiravir, marketed under the name of Lagevrio. “The EMA will assess the benefits and risks of Lagevrio within a short timeframe and may issue an opinion within a few weeks if the data submitted is strong and complete enough to show the efficacy, safety and quality of the drug,” said she said.

The protest escalates

For now, governments are tightening the screw – from confinement in Austria, to new health restrictions in Belgium and the Netherlands, which have given rise to demonstrations of violence. Prime Minister Mark Rutte denounced acts of “pure violence” on the part of “idiots”, at a time when the French West Indies are, themselves, in the grip of a challenge to the vaccine obligation against Covid-19 .

The challenge of caregivers and firefighters started on November 15 in Guadeloupe turned into a social crisis punctuated by violence in this French department of the Caribbean, where a third of the population lives below the poverty line. On the neighboring island of Martinique, a similar mobilization continues and police and firefighters have come under gunfire, which did not injure anyone, during the night from Monday to Tuesday.

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If it appears, according to the WHO, “more and more evident that the protection induced by vaccination against infections and mild forms is declining,” the organization now recommends a booster for the most vulnerable, including the immunocompromised. In France, a Health Defense Council will work on the calendar of reminders on Wednesday in the face of this question made urgent by the acceleration of the epidemic in the country, of which the contamination of the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, is a symbolic example. This meeting will allow “to address the question of the extension of the third dose of the vaccine”, indicated Tuesday the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.

Meanwhile, Israel began its campaign to vaccinate children aged five to eleven, becoming one of the first countries, after the United States, to so drastically lower the age of access to the vaccine.