COVID-19 could kill 700,000 more in Europe – WHO
SWITZERLAND: Europe remains “in the firm grip” of COVID-19 and the death toll on the continent could top 2.2mn this winter if current trends continue, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Some 700,000 could die in the coming months, the WHO said, as cases creep up across Europe, prompting some countries to reimpose tough restrictions.
The WHO expects “high or extreme stress in intensive care units (ICUs) in 49 out of 53 countries between now and March 1, 2022”. “Cumulative reported deaths are projected to reach over 2.2mn by spring next year,” it added, up from the current 1.5mn. According to WHO data, COVID-related deaths increased last week to nearly 4,200 a day, doubling from 2,100 deaths a day at the end of September.
The WHO also said evidence was growing that vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild disease was declining. “The COVID-19 situation across Europe and Central Asia is very serious. We face a challenging winter ahead,” regional director for WHO Europe, Hans Kluge, said in a statement.
He called for a “vaccine plus” approach, consisting of vaccinations, social distancing, the use of face masks and hand washing.
Meanwhile, the global COVID-19 caseload has topped 257.5 million while the deaths have surged to more than 5.15 million and vaccinations to over 7.39 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Monday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 257,520,965, 5,150,520 and 7,392,037,014, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 47,730,591 and 771,118, according to the CSSE.
The second worst-hit country in terms of cases in India (34,510,413 infections and 465,662 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,017,276 infections and 612,659 deaths). The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (9,897,206), Russia (9,170,898), Turkey (8,573,524), France (7,517,669), Iran (6,077,438), Germany (5,378,192), Argentina (5,315,348), Spain (5,080,663) and Colombia (5,048,061), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (292,372), Russia (259,107), Peru (200,833), , the UK (144,369), Indonesia (143,709), Italy (133,177), Iran (128,956), Colombia (128,093), France (119,424) and Argentina (116,377).
Meanwhile, Britain’s Prince Charles formally opened a new 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) AstraZeneca research and development (R&D) facility on Tuesday, as the company aims to fuel the growth of its drug pipeline.
AstraZeneca has supplied two billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, developed at Oxford University, and is also looking to bring a preventative antibody cocktail against COVID-19 to market.
“Our new Discovery Centre in Cambridge… will allow us to break new boundaries in the understanding of disease biology, bring life-changing medicines to patients and power the next stage of our company’s growth,” Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement.
AstraZeneca, which has a large portfolio of treatments for diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, said the centre would support research into specialised medicines and next-generation therapeutics, including gene-editing and cell therapies. – INDIA TODAY, IANS