Covid-19 cases in Eastern Europe will soon surpass 20 million as the region struggles with its worst outbreak since the pandemic started and vaccination efforts lag, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday.
Eastern Europe’ countries have the lowest vaccination rates in the continent, with less than half of the population having received a single dose.
Hungary tops the region’s vaccination rates wit
h 62 percent of its population having received at least one shot, whereas Ukraine has given just 19 percent of its residents a single dose, according to Our World in Data.
New infections in the region have steadily risen and as the current average reaches at least 83,700 new cases per day, the highest level since November last year, Reuters data through Friday showed.
More social gathering indoors after the lifting of pandemic restrictions just as winter sets in is driving a rise in COVID-19 infections in many countries across Europe, said the World Health Organization’s emergency director Mike Ryan on Thursday, reported Reuters.
Although it has just four percent of the world’s population, Eastern Europe accounts for roughly 20 percent of all new cases reported globally.
Three of the top five countries reporting the most deaths in the world are in Eastern Europe – Russia, Ukraine and Romania.
More than 40 percent of all new cases reported in Eastern Europe were in Russia, with 120 people testing positive every five minutes, according to a Reuters’ analysis.
The country’s healthcare system is operating under great strain, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Wednesday. The nation on Friday reported record COVID fatalities for the fourth straight day.
So far, Russia has vaccinated about 36 percent of its population with one vaccine shot.Slovakia reported 3,480 new COVID-19 cases on October 19, its highest daily tally since March, health ministry data showed on Wednesday. The country has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU, with just over half the adult population fully inoculated in the country of 5.5 million.
In Romania, hospitals are stretched to breaking point, with emergency beds fully occupied across the country. The virus was killing one person every five minutes on average this month in Romania, where the inoculation rate is low.
Ukraine registered a record daily high of new coronavirus infections and related deaths for the second consecutive day on Friday. It also extended a state of emergency that allows authorities to impose curbs until year-end in an attempt to control the epidemiological situation.
As the wave of infections intensifies in the region, many people in Eastern Europe are torn between defiance and regret over not getting vaccinated.
Hundreds have protested in Sofia, Bulgaria, and other cities against mandatory vaccine certificates that came into force on Thursday, bereaving unvaccinated citizens from the right to access to many indoor public spaces.
A European Commission poll, the Europarometer, has shown that at least one person in three in most countries in the European Union’s east does not trust the healthcare system, compared with a bloc average of 18 percent.
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