WHO Europe chief voices 'grave concern' about COVID rebound
Geneva, Nov 4: A 53-country region in Europe and Central Asia faces the real threat of a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming weeks or already is experiencing a new wave of infections, the head of the World Health Organisation's regional office said Thursday.
Dr. Hans Kluge said case counts are beginning to near record levels again and the pace of transmission in the region, which stretches as far east as the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, is of grave concern.
We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence, Kluge told reporters from WHO Europe headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Europe is back at the epicentre of the pandemic, where we were one year ago.
He said the difference now is that health authorities know more about the virus and have better tools to combat it.
Relaxed prevention measures and low vaccination rates in some areas explain the latest surge, he said.
Kluge said hospitalisation rates due to COVID-19 in the 53-country region more than doubled over the last week.
If that trajectory continues, the region could see another 500,000 pandemic deaths by February, he said.
WHO Europe says the region tallied nearly 1.8 million new weekly cases, an increase of about 6% from the previous week, and 24,000 COVID-19 weekly deaths, a 12% gain.
Kluge said the countries in the region were at varying stages of vaccination rollout and that region-wide an average of 47% of people were fully vaccinated.
Only eight countries had 70% of their populations fully vaccinated.
We must change our tactics, from reacting to surges of COVID-19, to preventing them from happening in the first place, Kluge said.
WHO's headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday reported that cases had risen in Europe for the fifth consecutive week, making it the only world region where COVID-19 is still increasing.
The infection rate was by far the highest in Europe, which reported some 192 new cases per 100,000 people.
Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe have seen daily case numbers shoot up in recent weeks.
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Karnataka: Elderly man dies after his car catches fire
Chikkaballapur (Karnataka) (PTI): A 70-year-old man died after his car caught fire, leaving his body charred, police said on Monday.
The deceased was identified as Uday Kumar, a resident of Raghuvanahalli on Kanakapura Road in Bengaluru, they said.
The incident occurred near Achepalli Cross in Bagepalli taluk of Chikkaballapur district on Sunday when he was returning after visiting his mother in his native place, police said.
Local police were alerted by passersby who noticed the car on fire. Fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the blaze. However, the flames had spread rapidly through the vehicle, resulting in his death. Later, his charred body was recovered from the car, police said.
Citing preliminary investigation, a senior police officer said it appeared to be a case of suicide as investigators did not find any evidence indicating an accident or a mechanical fault in the car that could have triggered the fire.
"However, teams have collected samples and other evidence, and further investigation is underway to ascertain whether there was any technical fault that led to the fire," the officer said.
