“The situation in our region is serious; 1.6 million new cases are reported every week. That’s 9500 every hour, 160 people every minute,” Kluge warned.

Stating that it is only among the oldest, that declining incidence is being seen, Kluge went on to say: “Over the past 2 months, the trend among people more than 80 years of age, has diverged from the trend seen in every other age group, possibly thanks to high vaccination uptake in this high-risk group. Since February, the proportion of COVID-19 deaths in Europe, among those older than 80, has gradually fallen to close to 30%, the lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic.”

“Hospitalization, nonetheless, remains at high levels, with continued reports of intensive care capacity having been exceeded, from all parts of the Region – also in Greece. This April, COVID-19 admissions to hospitals and intensive care in France reached the highest levels since this time last year.”

Kluge underlined that there are early signs that transmission may be slowing across several countries, adding that early signs of decline are not equal to low rates of transmission.

“Transmission must be driven down to low rates and kept low, by harnessing our energy and resilience to beat the virus,” Kluge noted.

“The availability of all public health and social measures is critical, including the roll-out of vaccines. Adjusting social measures must be done, not based on vaccination targets, but on the basis of epidemiology and the ability of our health services and workforce to cope with COVID-19 and to maintain basic public health services.”